That's My Boy
by Lurk
Summary: HIATUS, POSSIBLY DISCONTINUED What happens when a giant movie screen shows the future to those who are Marauders? Full SummaryWarnings Inside. Includes child abuse.
1. Warnings, Summary, Whatever

That's My Boy 

Summary: When an American wizard (who has no real bearing on the plot) casts a spell, allowing the marauders and their gang to view their children in action, what will happen when James Potter and Co. decide that they just want to go first?

Warnings: TWT – I'm going by a timeline that I just randomly made up. NOT A CANON TIMELINE!

Lots of Abused!Harry and graphic descriptions, rather gory and not for the weak of heart.

Pairings: Dumbledore/McGonagall

Lots. This is going into Harry's whole life so far, so there are going to be minor dates, including Cho, and maybe some experimentation. I'm planning on sticking a little Hermione/Ginny fumbling in there, but it's not going to be an official relationship. THERE WILL BE SLASH, GAY PAIRINGS, SHONEN AI, SHOJO AI, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU WANT TO CALL IT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Disclaimer: I own American Wizard Corith. I will rent him out, if you want ! I also own random people whose names you won't recognize. Other than that, I own nothing except the plot. And even that isn't really mine, most of it is based on the books, which belong to Mrs. J. K. Rowling.

Author's Quick Ramblings: Well, this is my first time writing a fanfiction, so if you could review, it would be great, just so I would know the opinions of you guys. However, this isn't going to be a "review 10 times or I won't update!". I'm going to carry this story as far as I want. I don't believe I've stolen this idea from anybody, but if you see another story like this one, I assure you, I did not rip it off. I randomly got this idea, and for the first time ever, decided to write it down. I never do that. Oh yeah, one more thing, I don't care about getting flames or not, but if you do decide to flame me, for whatever reason, can you tell me why? I mean, don't put:

"THIS STOREE SUXX MAJ0R D1(K!", but put:

"THIS STOREE SUXX MAJ0R D19K B3CAUS3…". Yeah. I think that's about it.


	2. Right Before The Curtain Rises

Headmaster Dippet smiled as he looked out over the sea of student heads making their way to the best seats in the Great Hall. Normally, the teens would have sat at their house tables, but the Headmaster had worked hard to adjust the massive room. Now, instead of four long tables stretching down the hall, with the teacher's table at the end, there stood a giant screen at the end, and a multitude of red, scratchy, flip-down chairs arranged in an alternating order. Dippet snickered under his breath as four unruly fifth years entered the hall, arms linked. He exchanged a glance with the current Transfigurations professor, and soon-to-be Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Next to Dumbledore was the soon-to-be Transfigurations professor, Minerva McGonagall. She was standing slightly in front of Dumbledore, and was involved in attempting to hide their conjoined hands.

The Headmaster coughed, and, with a meaningful look at the pair, said, "Despite the fact that the Great Hall is now the replica of a muggle cinema, I will not tolerate you two being the hormonal couple in the back row." At this, McGonagall blushed and removed her hand, and Dumbledore merely gave him a twinkling smile and questioned him as to where exactly did he have to deal with a hormonal couple in the back row. As the conversation behind her degraded into a rather lusty chat about young females, the length of their clothing, and rather explicit ideas on the use of sherbet lemons, McGonagall turned to view the students she would have to teach the next year, and groaned out loud at the thought of having to teach THOSE four.

--------

THOSE four, at the time, were standing in a chain. The one on the far left was spending his time leering at any passerby, male or female. Another, attempting to whap his companion upside the head with a rather large Charms book, while still maintaining linked arms. The third, laughing at anyone who, when caught with the formers glance, would either blush or hide, and the last, on the far right, leering in a decidedly less perverted way, again at either sex. Soon however, he became all too aware of his short-comings, and whined, "C'mon Siri! Lemme have a go at them!"

Siri, AKA Sirius Black, Padfoot, Perv, Mutt, and Marauder Number Two, turned and gave the speaker a decidedly scornful look. "First off, Jamsey-poo, you can't leer. Second, no way in hell. Thirdly, you've got spinach between your teeth." With that, he turned and continued leering, with barely a glance at the sandy-haired man next to Jamsey-poo.

Jamesy-poo, AKA James Potter, Prongs, Seeker, Prat, and Marauder Number One, glared at his handsome friend, and said, in an outraged voice, "I haven't even had spinach today!" The effect was lost, unfortunately, as at that exact moment, Sirius decided to conjure a mirror and comb, and began to brush his hair. He leaned over slightly, raised an eyebrow, and turned the mirror towards James, only to show him that three whole fucking spinach leaves were stuck between his front teeth. As Sirius had been too distracted to cast the charm, James turned to the sandy-haired man next to him and growled, "Remy…"

Remy, AKA Remus Lupin, Moony, Wolf-boy, Nerd, and Marauder Number Three, looked at James, dramatically gasped, jumped backwards (their arms were unlinked by now), and said, in a failing voice, "Why James! You have three spinach leaves between your teeth. You really ought to brush them more often. You really, really ought to." As he said this, he calmly slipped his wand back into his sleeve, then turned to the smaller boy next to him and said, "Pete, lookit this! An embarrassment hex! Including spinach! That's very ironic."

Pete, AKA Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, ……... and Marauder Number Four, gasped and clapped his hands to his mouth. As soon as he gained control of his voice, (he had to stop laughing first), he wheezed, "Ironic indeed. Prongs' misfortune must have caused the book to sympathize!" He then proceeded to lose all control, and burst out laughing at the look of fury on James's face. Before James could begin the hexing, the Headmaster called out, "Please be seated!" And as everyone knows, NO ONE disobeys the Headmaster. The four instantly plunked down in four seats, and Peter, having gone to a cinema before, whispered, "Who's got the popcorn?", and was then instantly smacked in the head by the Charms book.

--------

"As some of you have already found out," Headmaster Dippet began when the masses had settled, "This is going to be my last week as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. And," he continued, raising his voice above the whispered cheers, "As the times are growing darker than we would have liked, I thought that this would be a good time to have some cheering up in regards to the future!

"Standing next to me is Mr. Andrea (An-dray-ah) Corith (Core-ih-th). He is an old friend of mine from the US, and he has brought to my knowledge a charm, which only he, unfortunately, can cast. This charm is tied to his seer blood, and, when cast, it allows the future to be seen. Now, as I am not completely sure myself about how this magic works, I believe I shall let him take the stage!"

Amid the cheers and catcalls from the student audience, a young man stood up on a platform right next to the gigantic screen. He was a very tall, very stretched out sort of man, extremely thin, and wiry. While he appeared normal at first, people began to notice that his eyes were different colors, one a deep brown, and the other a very pale green. "It's got to be a charm," James muttered, looking rather freaked out. Sirius shook his head in a very dog-like manner and said, "Naw, it's some kind of imbalance or something. Dogs get it sometimes. Took me three tries to get rid of it when we went Animagi."

"I knew that…… Prick."

Corith cleared his throat nervously, and said, in a surprisingly deep, yet rather nasally voice, "What the charm does, exactly, is it combines the essence of a persons magic with my seer ability. Alright, that doesn't explain it… Well, you see this?" He raised his hand, holding up a small metal cube, only two inches across. On top of the cube was a red push button. That was it. "This cube is what whoever using the charm would hold. They would press the button with their left thumb, and hold it in for a few seconds. It kind of pulls their magic from them, but only for a second. It contains some of my blood, giving it the seer-ish ability. After the button's been pressed, I'll cast the charm, and what will show up on the screen is not your, but your children's future, determined by your magical destiny." Corith had become so engrossed in what he was saying that he didn't even notice when he switched tenses. As he went on to explain exactly what magical destiny was, and why it showed the child's life instead of the user's, Sirius leaned back in his chair and muttered, "Destiny. Riiiiiight." James had put his head down on the armrest, and at that, he snorted. "He sounds like Professor Farivarderchii. Definitely the craziest faerie that I've ever seen."

"Eh. You can't blame the guy for his heritage."

"Yeah, but I can blame him for rotting my lungs. And Evans complains of cigarette smoke."

"Evans will never go out with you." Sirius kicked his feet up onto the seat in front of him. "She bloody hates you."

James sighed. "And yet you can always see her with the grease-ball. Honestly, how can she even be friends with the guy! Let alone have dated him!"

"Maybe," a rather silky voice hissed from the row behind them, "because I don't treat her like a bloody object!"

All four of the self proclaimed Marauders turned abruptly in their seats. Behind them sat not only Lily Evans, but also Severus Snape.

"Snivellus," Sirius hissed. "Soooooo good to see that you've taken a shower. But I prefer the other look." With that, he began to draw out his wand, when Remus sharply elbowed him in the side, and pointed up to the now silent speaker. Sirius hastily turned back in his seat, but luckily, Corith hadn't seen him. Instead, he once again cleared his throat, and asked, "Now, who would like to be the first to see their future sons and daughters?"

With no more than a glance, all four pranksters stood up, and declared themselves to be first. Corith called them up, and several sixth and seventh years muttered under their breath about the younger years always going first.

--------

Sirius bounded up on stage, shook Corith's hand, and arrogantly called out to the crowd, "Fifth year, Sirius Black, best bet for girls and boys alike. Owl me." Remus once again smacked him upside the head, and then turned to the other two and said, "Three galleons on him having a bunch of bastards running about the place." Peter shook his head, proclaiming that Sirius couldn't be so heartless, while James instantly shook Remus's hand, and said, "Done". With that, and with a toss of his head, in a rather seductive way, Sirius pushed the button.

A loud buzzing noise filled the hall, and the screen turned black with two words scrawled across it. NO CHILDREN.

"Damn it!" Remus snapped, as he pulled three galleons out of his pocket and handed them to a smugly smirking James. Sirius stepped down with a rather puzzled and disappointed look. "Your turn Moony." He said, clapping him on the shoulder, then the ass. Remus turned around, and with a rather smug look of his own and said, "Tough luck, Padfoot. One must wonder whether Snape finally cracked and used the castration curse. After all, it IS meant to be used on dogs." With that he spun around, pressed the button, and completely ignored the indignant splutters issuing from Sirius.

It was Sirius's turn to gloat when the same message appeared for Remus, causing James to burst out in laughter. "I KNEW IT!" he cried, "Padfoot and Moony, sittin' in a tree, F-U-C-"

"MR. POTTER! Ten points from Gryffindor!"

He shrugged, and then, with a leer to both Black and Lupin, began to go onto the platform, only to see Peter standing there about to press the button. Almost immediately Peter began to step down, but James merely waved his hand and let him go. Again there was the loud buzzing, and the NO CHILDREN message. Peter, seeing the words, began to tear at the eyes, and sniffle.

"Don't worry ol' chum!" Sirius teased, arms wrapped around Remus, resting on his waist. "Maybe you've just found out that you're really gay, or bi, like us!" But he just shook his head and stepped down of the platform, head hanging low. "Your turn," he said, in a downcast tone.

James paused, as if wishing to comfort his downtrodden friend, but, torn between knowing his future, and comforting Peter, he picked the button. When he pressed it, a short series of short beeps were heard, along with the following text, "ONE CHILD".

"It's a boy!" Everyone in the room, excluding Corith, jumped when they heard a deeper James voice echo around the room. "What are we gonna call him Lils?"

At that moment, the text faded, and an image showed up on the screen, showing a woman lying on a hospital bed, holding a small baby with black hair, and opening green eyes.

Lily Evans' voice echoed as well, sounding exhausted, relieved, and overjoyed all at once as she said, "Harry. Harry James Potter."


	3. It's Got To Be Wrong

Chapter Two: It's Got To Be Wrong 

"YESSSSSSSSS!"

It's always been very interesting to see one James Potter jumping up in the air like a moron, and it's quite amusing to see the Marauders paralyzed in hysterics watching, and it's rather normal to also see one Severus Snape glaring at the four of them. What's not normal is to see all this happening with a baby's cries and a moving image of a rather older James Potter surrounded by older Marauders, next to an older Lily Evans….er…Potter, lying on a bed, in the background.

Lily Evans, the one currently sitting next to Severus Snape, had a look of horror on her face. "I married _you_?" James winced. "You're such a jerk! There is **no way** that this is correct!"

"Unfortunately," Mr. Corith said, while clearing his throat, causing more than three-quarters of the school to jump in surprise, "It is impossible for the charm to go incorrectly. At least, as it is cast now. Perhaps over time you will grow to be a little more…..lenient?……towards Mr. Potter's………eccentrics."

In response, Lily merely huffed in disgust, and turned back to the screen. The majority of the school followed her lead, as seeing the future of the two who had been voted 'most-likely-to-cause-the-messiest -rejection-ever' would be rather interesting. And so it was.

--------

A small clock in the corner of the screen jumped ahead a few hours, and the image changed. Now the elder James could be seen rocking his child in his arms. ('Aww' factor 80) Sirius Black entered the hospital room, and, in a quiet voice, hissed, "What the _hell_ were you thinking?", to which the current Sirius responded, "What do you think? He was thinking with his head!"

"I wasn't." James replied heavily. "God Padfoot, I don't know what to do!" He looked up at his best friend, a despairing look in his eyes. "As if Lily and I weren't in danger already…! If You-Know-Who ever finds out that we have a child…!"

Sirius sat down and slung an arm over James's shoulder. With his other hand, he gently stroked Harry's cheek with a finger. "Relax," he said comfortingly, "Only the Order knows that you have a child." Then his eyes grew hard. "And we think we know who the spy is."

"Who?" He didn't want to know, it would have meant that he couldn't trust one of his friends, please, please don't be…

"Remus Lupin."

--------

"**_WHAT!_**" Remus Lupin jumped up from where he had been sitting. "How could you accuse me? I would _never_ betray you guys. _NEVER_! You can't believe that!" His voice shifted from anger to desperation. "Whatever this "Order" is I would never go to His ranks! You know me, don't you?"

James, Sirius, and Peter looked at him. "I want to say yes," Sirius said first, "But as Corith said, this thing can't lie. I'm sorry." With that, the three turned back to the screen, leaving the fourth to attempt to stifle his sobs, and hide his tears.

---------

"No," James whispered, "Moony? How could…Why…" In his shock, all he could get out were half-formed questions. His son, sensing his father's distress, reached up with one small hand and touched his father's cheek. James blinked. "Not even a day old yet? You're gonna be bloody powerful, kid." He shook his head. Harry Potter, five hours old, awake, and sensing emotions. That's more than just "bloody powerful".

"We think—" Sirius cleared his throat, "We think it's because he's a werewolf. It's possible that You-Know-Who's not giving him a choice in the matter. I don't think he'd willingly betray us."

--------

Back in the present time, whispers were heard throughout the crowd, all of them the same. Werewolf? The tears that Remus had just managed to stop started flowing again. It didn't matter that he was a man, that he wasn't supposed to cry. He had just 'betrayed' his friends, the first people to accept him for what he was, and now, with his secret out, no one else would even want to stand near him. His life was going from the best time he'd ever had, to the worst hell he could imagine.

--------

Sirius continued, completely oblivious to the fact that hundred of students from the past were listening in. "Listen, Dumbledore thinks it's best if we used the Fidelius Charm. Either he or I would be your secret keeper."

"I pick you." James had a determined look on his face. "If I can't trust my best friend, who can I trust?"


	4. Talking, Treason, and Tears

July 30th: JUST GONE OVER FOR SPELLING MISTAKES.

A/N: Hey! Sorry about the slow update, but I'm literally dying on my feet with 2 essays 8-10 pages long, 2 projects, AND 2 performances. Not to mention normal school-work and my mother driving me insane. Well, here ya go, with out any further fuss. Oh, and if you think that I own these people, you're sadly mistaken. The men in white coats will come for you shortly.

Chapter Three: Talking, Treason, and Tears

The screen faded out slightly, signifying that either what being said wasn't that important, or Harry was asleep. The small clock in the corner sped up, and skipped over thirteen months, all the way to next year September. The time stopped on exactly 2:17 PM. All of the students in the Great Hall, and admittedly most of the professors as well, leant forward in their seats, eager to see what this little melodrama was bringing up next.

* * *

"Ba'foo! Ba'foo! Ba'foo!" Little Harry was sitting on a rug, wearing a small green baby's outfit, footies and all. He was bouncing his hands up and down, chanting.

"Yeah, that's it! C'mon Harry, _Padfoot_! Say that for Uncle Siri and Daddy. _Padfoot_!" Sirius was sitting across from Harry, holding a small box of Animal Cookies (courtesy of Dumbledore) and was in the middle of bribing Harry so that his name would be the first complete word Harry said. James, sitting on a chair a few inches away, sniggered.

"No Harry," he said, holding out the leg of a (non-moving) chocolate frog. "_Daddy_. You can say that. Or _Prongs_. Or even _Prongs Daddy_." With that James let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. "I remember when all the girls used to call me that." He grinned. Sirius, however, grinned wider when he snagged the leg of the chair, and swiftly brought James off of his pedestal.

"Do, pray tell, when exactly has any female ever called you 'Prongs Daddy'?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, and seeing James's extreme discomfort, went to see if he could beat his own record of how red he could make James's face. "Are you talking about the time that Dumbledore—"

"Da-ddy." Both men's head whipped around so fast, that you could almost hear the bones cracking. Harry looked up, a small smile on his face, his eyes sparkling. Prongs and Padfoot looked at each other nervously. It didn't matter that he was only a few months old, they recognized the Marauder Look when they saw it. "Da-ddy Pa'foo!"

* * *

"Awwwwwww!" Sirius's voice raised above the squealing of the girls had the effect of having every member of the audience look at him. His voice rung with disappointment as he said, "I wanted to hear about when Dumbledore called you 'Prongs Daddy'!"

* * *

"Remus!" Lily's voice sounded off screen. She was in another room, one Harry couldn't see. "Come in. The boys are in the living room, trying to get Harry to appease their overly massive egos." 

Remus's laugh was heard, and it sounded natural, not something that a traitor could pull off. James knew better, and he lifted Harry into his lap, with a nervous glance at Sirius.

As Remus came into the room, he announced that Peter would be coming shortly, and then he continued on to say that he'd brought a toy for the child. Harry looked up in wonder, gurgled, and cried, "Unca' Moo'ey! Unca' Moo'ey!" With that, he lifted his arms, and Unca' Moo'ey quickly, but gently lifted him out of his father's arms.

"And did you miss your Uncle Moony?" he said with a laugh. Harry fervently nodded, a wide smile plastered on his face. "And have you been good for Mummy and Daddy?" Again, another bobble-head imitation. "Good," Moony said, reaching for his wand, "That means that I can give you this!" With that, he dramatically placed Harry on the floor, and pointed his wand at him, a frightening look upon his face.

* * *

"**Don't you DARE hex my future child you BASTARD!**" James quickly drew his wand and pointed it at his ex-marauder friend. "If you so much as damage on HAIR on Harry's head, I will make sure that you will suffer." 

The werewolf in question looked at James sadly. "And I thought you knew so much about me…" he mumbled. With the near silence in the room, caused not only by the viewing of the Prat Potter's son, but the Prat's fight, Moony's words were clearly heard.

Severus Snape threw his head back and laughed, a soft, derisive sound, just loud enough to carry. Lily looked at James in disgust. "Now I have no idea where you get those grades of yours from," she scoffed, "If you can't see the difference between a look of hatred, and a look of concentration, **especially** on the face of one of your best friends!" She pointed to the screen, where, in fact, it was a beautiful picture, instead of one filled with pain.

* * *

The four Marauders (Wormtail had arrived during the commotion) and Lily sat in a circle around a laughing Harry. A laughing Harry, currently involved with pulling on the ears of a large silver wolf with emerald eyes. Correction, a large, plushie of a silver wolf. Randomly during the conversation, Harry would crawl over to one of his protectors to get a hug or a pat, or, best of all, maybe a piece of candy. 

The conversation among the adults, however, was of a much darker turn. They, in turn, discussed Voldemort's troops, plans, latest attacks, possible reasons for wanting to kill Lily and James so horribly, and how they were supposed to protect themselves with a child. When Remus left for his turn on duty, the four dropped their lighthearted manner, (yes, that was lighthearted) and began to discuss the future.

"We've talked to Albus," James said, "and he's given full permission. We've got everything set for the Fidelius, except the Secret Keeper. You don't want to be ours anymore Padfoot?" Often times it's rather embarrassing to see a full grown man reduced to almost-tears. This was one of the times that it would be pulled off, due to the regretful sorrow that can only come to one who thinks two friends have now betrayed him.

"It's not that!" Sirius interrupted, looking rather pissed off, "You should know me better than that! It's just… well, You-Know-Who knows that we're the closest two in the world, right? And so, once he finds out about the Fidelius, he's going to come after me. And, no offence, but I don't think I'd be able to keep my mouth shut after 72 hours of straight torture." He paused, caught his breath, and leaned in closer, now cuddling Harry on his lap. "I think you should switch to Peter. Wait!" he snapped, cutting off both James and Peter's violent outcries. "Look, no offence Wormy, but He's going to be expecting a really powerful, stand-out type wizard to be protecting the Potters. No one would suspect you, see? And that's what we need right now. A one-up on the bastard."

* * *

"I think I'm going to like getting older," Sirius joked, "that was probably the deepest, most intellectual thing I've said in my life, past, present, OR future." 

Peter sharply smacked Sirius. Bewildered, the black-haired dogboy looked over at Peter, who smiled and said, "I take offense. And stop calling me Wormy dammit!"

* * *

Peter nodded, a slightly fearful gleam in his eyes. "I'll do it. I don't have to say that I'm going to enjoy it very much, but I'll do it. Oh, and Padfoot?" He turned towards Sirius, a frown on his face, and sharply smacked him. The older man looked at him, a bewildered look on his face. "I," Peter said pompously, "DO take offense. And stop calling me Wormy, mutt!"

* * *

It would be dramatic to say that there was a long pause of silence, but all the kids had been mostly quiet ever since the beginning, so whatever. It was, however, broken as the whole audience, including Remus, burst out laughing. They were in hysterics for a few minutes, long enough that they missed the Fidelius being applied. The majority did manage to look up in time to see the two leaving, with young Harry falling asleep where he sat. "Somethings just never change." 

The time-keeper clock thing moved ahead, to Halloween.


	5. Oh Ratigan! Oh Ratigan! The World’s Grea...

July 30th: FIXED SPELLING ERRORS.

A/N: crap, saw a few typos before, so I'll be going back to fix that, later though. I wanna get this, another chapter of CotC, and another page of Haikus up. Keep reading loves! Oh, and Pixi Sticks to whoever figures out where the title is from! WITHOUT looking it up!

Chapter Four: Oh Ratigan! Oh Ratigan! The World's Greatest Rat!

"Twah…twi…twicka tweet!" A fourteen-month old Harry Potter took a few halting steps towards his father. The fact that he could barely walk didn't matter, nor did the fact that his simple costume of a pair of dog ears and whiskers was making him itch. This just made little Harry only more determined to walk to his 'Da-ddy', currently also known as 'the man holding out chocolate', on his own.

Though he stumbled on the last step, knocking his ears askew, he had made it. James picked him up and spun him around, laughing. Lily sighed with a smile, picked out a new piece of candy and gave it to her son, at the same time vanishing the piece that James had carelessly dropped. "Well," she said, "he seems to have the 'treat' part firmly implanted in his mind." She tickled Harry's stomach, causing him to smile at her, his face somehow covered in the chocolate. She sighed again, lifted Harry from his father's arms, and began to wipe the mess off of his face.

"Don't worry Lils. Soon he'll like the 'trick' part even better!" Lily glanced at her jubilant husband. "I'm not going to have a say in the matter, am I?" she asked, disappointment in her voice. James looked up at her in shock. "What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion, "I'm counting on you to help! You and Moony were the only ones able to pull off the innocent look well enough to convince the professors." They both laughed, and sat down to talk, putting Harry first in his playpen, which now held not only the silver wolf, but a grey rat, a brown stag, and a pink dog.

* * *

Sirius glared at his laughing companions. "PINK!" he shouted, disgust filling each pixel of the letter (A/N: don't ask). "That should have been a pink SNAKE, to remind us of when we dyed Snivellus's hair pink. Ah, the memories…" He trailed off, a gleam in his eye, even as the Snake in question tried to hex him without his wand.

* * *

"Some good news, Lils."

She looked up, and asked hopefully, "You-Know-Who's died of food-poisoning?" 

James laughed, a short, bitter laugh, and shook his head. "No, the bastard's still alive. **BUT**," he raised a finger, "there have been no attacks on Remus, Sirius, or Peter. Well, _of course_ not Remus. Why would he attack one of his own?" James looked disgusted. "I don't want to believe it, but He's finding out more and more about the Order, and if Sirius or Peter were the spy, we would have been dead by now." He shook his head, then lightly reached out and patted Harry. "Well, what can you do. Huh? What's wrong Harry?" He turned to his son, who was now bawling his lungs out.

A loud bang shook the house.

James turned pale, and then red.

"_Peter?_ **He** must have been the traitor!"

* * *

"What? Why me?" Peter wailed, after being punched by James. 

"Actually," Remus said calmly, after being apologized to from Sirius and James, "It makes perfect sense. Peter would much rather save his own hide than let himself die, or even get Crucio'd. And," he turned to his two best friends, "You can stop apologizing now. I'm going to prank hell out of you for it, but it's a time of war. And from what we've heard, you guys looked at the facts, and then only partially believed it anyway."

"And at least you won't have to go through it again." James declared. "We're not going to make the same mistakes."

* * *

James quickly turned back from the window he had looked out of, his face now an ashen hue. "Lily! Take Harry and go! It's HIM."

Lily reached out to him, tears running down her face, "Stay alive," she whispered, "we both have to apologize to Moony together." James nodded, drawing out his wand; "GO! RUN! I'll hold him off!"

Lily nodded, even while turning around and swiftly drawing the now silent Harry out of his pen. As she fled through the side door, she saw a flash of green light, and heard, "Avada Kedavra!" in a voice that was not her husband's, followed by a high-pitched laugh. He didn't even have time to cast a single spell!

* * *

All that could be heard from the students was crying. Boxes of tissues suddenly appeared in front of every two students, magically refilling after each use.

* * *

Lily ran through her bedroom, hitting her shins upon first the bed, then the desk chair, frantically looking for her wand. She could hear the Death Eaters behind her, tearing up the rooms as they searched for her and Harry. She burst through Harry's door, and froze. "Master," a voice said, "The mudblood will be protecting her half-breed son at all costs." Fresh tears sprung from her eyes, only to land on Harry's face. That was Peter! Somehow, Harry seemed to understand what was going on, and reached out to touch his mother's face, as if to wipe the tears away. He remained silent, even though every instinct inside of him was telling him to cry.

* * *

"**_YOU BASTARD! THERE'S NO WAY TO MAKE A MISTAKE WITH THAT!_**" James leapt to his feet, and began to punch Pettigrew into oblivion. Only the Headmaster casting Petrificus Totalus upon him, and Sirius and Remus, saved Pettigrew from dying an untimely death. "I am sorry," Dippet said, "But the course of future is unalterable." Several students looked at him in shock. "I am afraid that James will die in the future, and by You-Know-Who's hand. There is no way to change this. Please accept this, and I will release your bonds." With that, he cast Finite Incantatem, and turned towards the screen. His movements were mimicked by the Marauders, after glaring furiously at Pettigrew.

* * *

The child's bedroom door burst open, revealing Voldemort. His handsome, cruel face swept over the room, and landed upon Lily and Harry, standing in the center. He raised his wand, and with agonizingly slow movements, pointed it directly at Harry. 

Lily, with a look of possession only a mother can have, threw Harry down into his crib, and stood in front of it, a look of defiance on her face.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Stand aside," he said, ice filling every syllable that he uttered.

Lily reached for her wand, before realizing that she had left it in the main room. She looked up, and tried to say bravely, "Not Harry. Not Harry." To her shock, her voice came out terrified, weak, and pleading. Well, when in Rome… "Please, not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl." Voldemort stepped forward, his wand upraised. "Stand aside, now…" he said, in as condescending a voice as one could get.

"Not Harry." Lily cried, shaking, but unwavering. "Please, no!" Suddenly, a thought struck her. She remembered a book she had read when she was a child, it was in a series, The Chronicles of Narnia. "Take me." She cried, trying so hard to act brave, to show what Gryffindor stood for. "Kill me instead." Oh, what was that spell?

"Not Harry!"

_When a willing victim who had committed no treachery…_

"Please! Have mercy!"

_Was killed in a traitors stead…_better change that to child's stead

"Have mercy…"

_The Table would crack…and Death itself_

"have mercy…."

_Would start working backward…_

The protection spell was complete, if it even worked as it wasn't a real spell at all. Lily threw herself at Voldemort, screaming. The only thought in her mind was to be killed first.

"Avada Kedavra." After Lily's body had struck the ground, Voldemort turned to Harry, who was looking at him with wide, green eyes. "Avada Kedavra."

* * *

"**LILY! BASTARD! LEAVE MY SON ALONE YOU MURDERER!"** James was on his feet, tears streaming down his face, and voice cracking from yelling at the screen. But then something happened which would shock everyone.

* * *

Green light flooded the screen, when all of a sudden, a baby's cry was heard. Voldemort's face was one of shock as the unblockable curse struck the boy square in the forehead, then ricocheted back at him, and struck him in the chest. Nothing could really clearly be seen of what happened next. Blood was streaming down Harry's face, and Voldemort, had vanished.

* * *

A/N: I don't own Narnia either. Wish I did. 


	6. Normal Life: Over

July 30th: FIXED SPELLING MISTAKES, AND LAST SENTENCE.

A/N: …….well, no Pixi Sticks so far…but, whatever. Sorry for the long delay, today is/was the last day of school, so I've got a bit of time before camp. Which will actually be fun! Hagrid's hard, but I'm trying to keep as close to canon as possible with it, so don't blame me.

Oh yeah, if you haven't noticed by now, my writing style's pretty weird, so, ah, sorry? It just comes as a kind of free flow and I rarely check myself. Hence the need for a beta-reader. Ah well. You'll just have to suffer.

**Chapter Five: Normal Life: Over.**

……"What the bloody hell just happened?" The Marauders were most notable in raising the outcry, with the student population right behind, exclamations ranging from a confused, "Huh?" to language that shall not be expressed.

Something must have just happened on the screen without them noticing, like, Lily holding up a hand mirror or something. Everybody who's ANYBODY knows that there is no way in heaven or hell to block the killing curse. That being said, the reactions of the current and future professors were less extreme than expected.

Dumbledore, known as one of the calmest professors, even with a sugar-high the majority of the time, choked on a sherbet lemon, and had to be smacked several times by McGonagall, whose eyes could currently be described as bigger than her stomach. "That," Dumbledore coughed, "is one of the greatest shows of power seen since, well, anytime. Defying the Killing Curse…" His voice trailed off, much to the dismay of the student population. Even the first years knew that Professor Dumbledore could _always_ be counted on to know _everything_.

* * *

The green light had since faded, and now all that could be seen around Harry was the rubble that used to be Godric's Hollow. The most shocking view was Harry himself, blood gushing from his forehead at a profuse rate. He wasn't crying, or unconscious, but merely looking around with his wide emerald eyes, filled with tears. He struggled to sit up, tugging at the blankets that Lily had nearly smothered him in. Before he was able to right himself, he looked up, two noises attracting his rather short attention span. One was a low rumble, the other, loud, stomping footsteps. 

"Lily? James? 'Arry?" A rough, frantic voice came from the outer hall, or what was left of it. Hagrid had come. He apparently caught sight of James, for his breath hitched, and soon his sobs drowned out the ever increasing rumble. His wildly hairy head peered round the corner, and he nearly passed out in relief. " 'Arry! Yer alright! Well, make tha' alive at least." He gently lifted the baby Harry in his arms, pulled a handkerchief out of his many pockets, and swabbed at his forehead. "Tha's alotta blood there, 'Arry. But yeh'll make it alrigh'."

Cradling Harry in one arm, he picked up Lily, and walking into the hall. James lay there, and Hagrid gently set Lily down right next to him, and he closed their eyes, thoroughly dowsing them with his tears.

The rumble had by this time increased to a roar, and Hagrid went outside, pink umbrella raised, only to come face to face with Sirius Black, sitting astride his motorcycle. Sirius's face was vaguely green, and he himself was crying at the merciless destruction of the Hollow. His eyes trailed over Hagrid, not really seeing him, but quickly snapped into focus when he looked at Harry.

"Hagrid, give Harry to me." Sirius tried and failed to convey the proper amount of intimidation in the demand, having a squeaky voice didn't really help matters, especially when the object of said intimidation could very easily crush you. "I'm his godfather, give him to me."

* * *

Padfoot winced, and both Prongs and Moony began to relentlessly tease him about Mr. Soprano. "I thought you outgrew that, old chap," James said, putting on a much stronger, and thus much faker, British accent. He was, in fact, referring to the rather embarrassing episodes in the third and fourth years during which all of the males attending Hogwarts began to fear for their reputation. After all, it's just as difficult for Sirius to intimidate Hagrid as it is to impress a girl if someone's voice will not stop cracking. Remus in particular was tormenting Sirius, he had experienced some rather embarrassing cracks himself, one in front of Snivellus even! This was also his form of retribution for the prior desertion. Several pranks would be paid upon the other Marauders, some harmless, some near lethal (for the rat), but all of them humiliating. 

Of course, the playful banter continued until Hagrid (future, that is) refused. Which was illegal. And he still refused.

* * *

"Sorry, Sirius, but ah can't be doin' tha'. Gotta take the tyke to Dumbledore. He's got a good place fer 'im. Don' you worry now." As Hagrid patted the distraught Padfoot on the shoulder, both future and past Siriuses came to the same conclusion, Dumbledore thought that _he_ was the traitor. 

Well, ……………..shit.

Sirius sighed. There was no way in hell to convince Hagrid about what really happened. Luckily he didn't already know about the Fidelius charm. "You can take my bike," he said, looking remarkably like a kicked puppy. "I won't be needing it anymore." _I've got things to do. Peter._

Hagrid nodded, gave his thanks, and awkwardly clambered onto the motorcycle. After Sirius briefed him in the instructions, he took off into the air, Harry looking around in amazement. Remember that Harry is nearly cocooned in the blankets, and so has a very small vision range.

* * *

(A/N: cocooned is a real word, yes? I hope……)

* * *

The next few minutes were images of the sky flying past, so the alumni took it as a break from the very heart-wrenching scene. Sirius was doing his utmost to ignore the _worm_, who was currently trying to rebuild the friendship. Pettigrew was pulling up every argument he could in his defense, ranging from "it hasn't happened yet," to "we could still change it if you would stop being such prats." The straw that broke the canine's back was when Pettigrew, reaching the end of his rope, said plaintively, "Look. If there _is_ no way to change it, I'm sorry Lily and James are dead, but at least the kid, uh, Harry, is alive! Plus, you saw it, You-Know-Who died. At least, I think he did. And I either died or got captured. So can we just call it square?"

* * *

No one was ever quite sure on how to describe the next moment.

It was wonderful, only for the fact that it stopped Sirius Black from murdering Peter Pettigrew and getting sent to Azkaban right then and there.

It was horrible in every other way, because it opened up the gates to hell.


	7. What If He Wasn't Magical?

**A/N**: Well, I finally got my brain working again. Kindof. I was just rereading a few of the chapters. My reactions? First, "Ok, I _do_ write really weird.", the other, "The typos……oh dapain, dapain….". So today I'm going to be fixing those. Most of the sentences are still understandable, but I HAVE to correct this one, "Remember that Harry in nearly cocooned in the blankets, and so have very small vision range." Trust me, it pained me to read that. Anyway, it's SUPPOSED to be "Remember that Harry _is_ nearly cocooned in the blankets, and so _has a_ very small vision range."

**Disclaimer:** I always forget to write these because it's kinda obvious I'm not J.K.R I mean, honestly! How many of you people are going to report/sue me if I forget to write a disclaimer, because it so obviously means that I'm trying to make people think that I AM J.K.R., even though she does NOT LIKE fanfiction! On a fanfiction site! Because of the badly written stories (ex: see below)!

I normally don't respond to reviews (well, ya kinda have to HAVE reviews to respond to :wink wink: ) but there was a point that I wanted to bring up.

Waterfall Angel: You said in your review "I think Dumbledore should not have talked because of the prophecy(sp?). I think you would have been putting 2 and 2 together (if you know what I mean).". In the fic, Dumbledore says that Harry has a lot of power. You have to remember, he just 'saw' Voldemort 'die', so he thinks it's all over. Poor him. (sarcasm). I hope that explained a few things!

**Holy shit! Very long **(for me)** chapter, with FOUR** (it started at two…geez)** bonus mini-stories coming up. On with the fic!

* * *

**

**Chapter Six: From Two to (almost) Eleven, Part I.  
OR: What If He Wasn't Magical?**

A shrill, piercing scream filled the air, followed by an inhalation, and then a very similarly shrill and piercing scream of, "**_VERNON!_**"

* * *

Typically, such a cry would not warrant **bolding**, _italicizing_, or underlining. However, this, combined with the multitude of exclamation points, six to be precise, was the only way to show the magnitude of the shout. Normally, there would be a phrase included saying, "and thus, all the glass in the room shattered," except Hogwarts glass had been shatterproofed after the incident with the Fat Lady's real life persona, and the carrot cake. But I digress. Shall we continue reliving one of the worst days in my life? Lets. –A.P.W.B.D.

* * *

Lily, having so far remained quiet except to ask Severus how Remus could forgive 'those prats' so quickly for turning on him, began to mutter under her breath. She was still teary-eyed and partially in shock from watching James and herself die, and she began to hyperventilate, breathing quickly and shallowly, and turning pale.

Severus looked at her critically, and noted all the minor signs of going into shock; trembling hands, dilated pupils, and so forth. He stood up and walked quickly to Madame Pomphrey, the school nurse. She turned, frowning, and listened to his concerns. She, showing an unheard of amount of trust in a student, gave Severus a vial of milky white liquid.

He nodded his thanks, and walked back to Lily, concern barely discernable in his eyes. When he got to their seats, he briefly checked her over again, then sharply smacked her across the face.

Lily snapped out of her daze, and stood up, flicking her wand into her hand, and pointing it directly between the Slytherin's eyes.

He, in turn, sneered at her, and shoved the vial into her face. "Drink it. It's a Calming Draught," he snapped, "Stupid bloody Gryffindors." With that, he pushed aside her wand, an act that would have made anyone a Gryffindor considering this was _Lily Evans_, and sat in his seat, eyes now focused on the screen.

Lily glared at him, but downed the Draught and returned the vial to him with a nod. One of the benefits of being friends with a Slytherin was that they could always understand a thank you without it being said.

………..

While this was occurring, the action on screen had continued, bringing fresh horrors, and prompting those who joined the Dark Lord to congratulate themselves. Here was proof that they were right.

* * *

(Right after the scream of "Vernon")

The shouter was none other than Petunia Dursley, Lily Evans' sister. She was bent over Harry who was now blearily rubbing his eyes, holding what appeared to be a box with several empty glass bottles in it. She looked horrified to see a child on her doorstep, and did not even move to bring him inside, or read the letter that was addressed to her specifically.

Harry, after being outside all night, was now cold, and damp from dew. He was also hungry, tired from being up half the night, and frightened to see the bony woman above him, and not the green eyes of his Mum. So he did what any other child would do in his situation. He began to cry. Loudly.

Petunia's eyes widened, and she hissed, "Quiet! Oh, be quiet!" to the boy, frantically checking to make sure none of her neighbors saw this. After seeing nobody about, she began to relax, turning to the still crying child. A rumbling noise of an automobile the next block over jolted her out of her surprise, and she swiftly picked up the basket Harry lay in, and brought him inside.

She set him on the kitchen table, then quickly walked to the stairs, where she bent and opened a cupboard door. She leapt back as a few spiders fell out, and said under her breath, "Oh god. I _hate_ spiders."

* * *

"You're not the only one, lady," Remus said, looking at the screen with disgust.

Sirius began to mock his friend, conjuring rubber spiders and dropping them down the back of Moony's robes. Of course, Remus retaliated by pointing his wand at Padfoot's groin and began to threaten him with castration. James, surprisingly enough, was peering at the screen, trying to figure something out.

"Hey, isn't she…" James paused, searching for the right words, "I mean, wasn't she that Muggle who, you know…" At seeing their blank faces, he huffed and crossed his arms. "You remember, at that Quidditch competition? Where we were allowed to invite our parents? Didn't she," he jerked his thumb at the screen, "come with Evans? As family?"

Sirius stared at the enlarged Muggle, trying to remember. "Oh yeah," he said, his eyes lighting up, "Yeah, she kept asking Evans about Bogan, the seventh year keeper. Don't know _how_ she could be attracted to a Slytherin…" Here he trailed off, and looked at Petunia again. "But I don't think she's her sister, I mean, they look _nothing_ alike."

The Marauders nodded, even Peter, who was having the good enough sense to keep quiet.

While Lily had a pretty face, with full lips, bright green eyes, and thick red hair, Petunia looked the complete opposite. She had a long, bony face, ("Looks like a bloody horse." –Sirius) thin lips, blonde hair, and a _lot_ of neck ("More like a giraffe." –James).

Severus, after confirming with Lily that this _was_ her sister, snorted in disgust. "She's been looking in that tiny cupboard for nearly five minutes! She is either blind, or simply disorganized." Lily gave a short laugh, but it was fully of amusement. Anyone who knew anything about S. Snape **knew** that he was the worst neat freak you could ever meet; but only when he was judging other peoples stuff. He was not a messy person, but he was never so anal retentive about his own stuff.

* * *

Petunia pulled out of the cupboard, holding a few rags, a towel, two blankets, and a package of diapers. She walked back into the kitchen, set her packages down, and swiftly pulled baby Harry, (or one year old Harry) out of the blankets. (He had stopped crying when she re-entered the room.) "Look at you!" She said, putting on a "goo-goo gah-gah" voice. "Look at you! You're all wet, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are! Don't worry, we're going to make you all nice and clean and dry and warm, yes we are!"

With that, she turned the water on in the sink, and adjusted it to a warm temperature. She gently raised Harry's arms, and slipped off the long shirt he was wearing. She looked at it in surprise, then in disgust. "It's _magical_!" She spat, mentally ripping the shirt/body suit to shreds. "What is my wretched sister doing sending _you_ to _me_!" She sneered at Harry, who began to whimper. "Oh, there, there," Petunia said, her voice soft again. "It's not your fault my sister's a, … a w-, a freak. Now why would she send you to me?" she mused aloud.

Harry gently tugged on her hair, and then, when he got her attention, pointed to the sink, which was about to overflow. Petunia hurriedly shut off the water, and drained about half of it. She patted him on the head, and began to praise him for being so intelligent. She then went on to say to him, "You're such the little gentleman aren't you? Hmmm? Oh, and so _handsome_ as well! Yes you are!"

* * *

Lily was in shock. Her magic-hating sister was giving Harry positive attention, and a whole lot of it! "I—I don't understand…" she mumbled, "it doesn't—make—sense."

* * *

Petunia took off Harry's diaper, only to find a small mess inside. She jumped back as the diaper quickly folded itself up so that there was no risk of anything going anywhere it shouldn't. She dropped the diaper in the trash, glaring at it like it was Satan himself. She quickly cleaned off Harry's rear, and then slowly and gently lowered him into the sink. To her surprise and delight, Harry didn't start screaming the way her own Dudley would, but he instead began giggling, and playing with the small bar of soap she just placed in.

She restarted her musings while washing Harry. "Maybe she needs me to…baby-sit you?" She shuddered, imagining babysitting a magical child. "No, she wouldn't need a basket for that. Oh!" Petunia gave a little jump and clapped her hands, "You must be one of those… oh what did she call them? Spuds? No, that potatoes… Squids? Oh, I don't know! But you must not be ma—freaky like her and her no-good husband. Oh, that's wonderful!" She clapped again, this time holding onto the 'squids' hands so he could clap as well. She washed his hair, and began to rinse it, being careful to keep the soap out of his eyes. "What's this!" Petunia gasped. "Oh you poor thing!" she cried, tracing the scar lightly with one finger. Harry whimpered and shied away. "Oh, I won't hurt you, I promise. Oh I can't believe that those _freaks_ **beat you** for being normal!"

* * *

Lily glared at her sister, wishing that she could just set fire to the screen. "Well," she snapped bitterly. "At least her accepting attitude makes sense **now**."

Severus looked at her oddly. "Oh don't give me that!" She snapped again, "Petunia could make the whole Wizarding world join with You-Know-Who! Oh," she moaned, her attitude flipping around, "oh poor Harry!"

* * *

Petunia lifted Harry out of the sink, and began to dry him off with the towel. As she was replacing his diaper with a _normal_ one, loud thuds announced to her that her husband, Vernon, was on his way down.

A large, large, and yet again large man, with a rather bushy mustache entered the kitchen. He looked in disgust at the child, and then sniffed the air. "Did you make breakfast yet, Petunia?" he grumbled.

"No Vernon, I'm sorry. It's just that I was so occupied with Harry. I think he's hungry, so I'll mix him some of Duddy-kins formula, and then I'll make breakfast, ok?" She smiled at her husband, and kissed him on the cheek. After that, she amused herself by tickling Harry's stomach and watching him squirm.

* * *

"Hang on," Sirius looked confused, "Didn't she banshee-shriek for him a bit ago? Why's he so slow coming down? She could've been dead!"

No one answered, because no one knew.

The clock skipped forwards 45 minutes.

* * *

"So," Vernon rumbled, now tucking into a large plate of bacon and eggs. "He just showed up?" He looked nervous.

"Yes, dear."

"And we're going to keep him."

"He's just a child! Besides, why would … **they** get rid of him if he was a freak like them? He must be normal."

Vernon let out a non-committal grunt, looking through the basket to see if they had left any money so that they could care for him.

"Vernon, didn't you mention my sister last night, saying you had heard funny stuff about, **them**?" Vernon nodded, then handed her an envelope made out of parchment. "It's got your name on it."

She thanked him, and opened it and began to read. She progressively turned paler as she read the letter, and ended up breathlessly crying out, "Their dead!"

"What?" Vernon's head snapped around so fast that his fat wouldn't stop jiggling until he had to hold it to stop it.

Petunia nodded, now fully ignoring Harry, a disgusted look coming onto her face. "That's not all," she said, in a long suffering tone, "He _is_ one of their kind. Very powerful too! He stopped a curse that never had been stopped before, oh Vernon, what are we going to do! He's just a child!"

Vernon chewed on a rasher of bacon, thinking. "I know," he said, his eyes lighting up. "I was reading a book on discipline, and it said that you can make a child _stop doing **anything**_ if you just _discipline_ them properly. We can beat it out of the boy!"


	8. Bonus Blips, Remus and Severus

Hey all. I'm gonna put this notice here so that you all can see.

I'm doing a summer program, that takes up my day from 6:30 am to 7 or 7:30 pm, Monday through Thursday (this week Friday).

I'm still going to be updating the stories, but it's going to be pretty slow. Unless, (and I know this sounds like blackmail, but it's not) I get some more reviews.

Plain and simple—I enjoy writing, but it really gives me a burst of euphoria (intense happiness) to read a review. I got one saying "Get the next damn chapter up", and look…I'm typing!

So yeah, and I'm also going to put this in, would some of you please read (and review) The Flow of Magic? I can assure you that the story is not as corny as it sounds...and it's not as insane as my Warning chapter. That one is going to take a little longer, and it doesn't have as much up now…but still. Yeah, whatever.

Here's to you all!

* * *

**Bonus Blip**- **Remus Forgives?**

To the casual observer, and even to the not-so-casual such as Severus Snape or Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin had whole-heartedly forgiven the quick-to-judge Sirius Black, and James Potter.

Riiiiiiiiight. They wished.

Logically, Remus could understand the quick betrayal, and then guilt. Logically, he even admitted to himself that he would have acted in a very similar, if not identical, manner. Logically, he should be able to forgive them for their mistakes that lasted less than half an hour.

…And everyone thought that Remus was the logical one.

…Poor them.

During the pauses in the action, such as when Future Hagrid was flying with Future Harry on the motorcycle, Remus mentally sulked. He was furious that his _best friends_ were so willing to believe ill of him. It's not as if he _wanted_ to be a werewolf! He just was! But he was still Remus…still Moony!

He closed his eyes, thinking back to when James had threatened him at wand point for "attempting to curse his son". And he, well, Future Him, had been giving the small boy a present!

It hurt.

Betrayal hurt like a bitch, and no amount of logic could heal the wounds caused by it.

Remus sighed. It would be a long, long time before he could fully trust the two again. He wasn't stupid, he had seen them hurt when they assumed the traitor to be him. It was enough, however, that they _had_ believed it was him.

Right now, the Marauders were in shambles. Who knew how long it would take before they were able to reconvene once again, in laughter? Without Peter obviously. While Remus had been deserted for mere speculation, Peter had shown up on the screen right next to You-Know-Who, and had gleefully spoken about the Future Potter's deaths.

* * *

**Bonus Blip- The Potions Master**

Whenever a Hogwarts student entered the Hospital Wing, clutching their stomach or their ankle, it was likely that they would never even see the face of the Nurse, Madame Pomphrey. What also was likely was that they would be treated, briskly yet professionally, by one of the 'Dark' Slytherins, Severus Snape.

Severus was known for his talent in Potions, having a miniature library of Potions texts, a giant store of ingredients, and free reign of the Potions Dungeons all to himself. He, without any professor's aid, had concocted over half of the Hospital Wings potions, and several Slytherins were eagerly spreading a rumor that the potions were better created than the ones made by the current Potions professor.

All in all, it wasn't surprising that Snape had submerged himself in Potions. He was known to have a short temper, and in order to calm himself, he would sort out his Sickles from his Galleons and Knuts, or conjure and sort different colored marbles. The repetitive, simple nature would ease the strain on his emotional control, enabling him to have a tighter reign on them.

Severus also had a fascination with the way ingredients reacted together, and would often separate his potion assignment into several portions, and then experiment with all but two. One was to be the control group, the other to be handed in for his 'O'.

It wasn't only with potions that Severus studied, but Charms and Defense as well. He could spend hours trying to see if a different inflection of the voice, or wand flick, or body stance would affect the effectiveness of the spell. Out of the whole class, he was the only one able to keep a Reflective Shield up for ten minutes. He claimed that this was due to the positioning of his right foot, but no one was ever able to mimic his success.

* * *

All for now loves, my net connection is getting shut down soon, and the camp I'm going to gives out HOMEWORK! So I've got to get that done! Sorry if you think you're getting ripped off. Please review! I'm being completely honest when I say that it really does make my day. 


	9. Just the First Drop in the Ocean

A/N: Well, it just randomly happened. Not as long as I would have liked, but whatever. Here ya go!

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

**Chapter Seven: From Two to (Almost) Eleven, Part II**  
** OR: Just the First Drop in the Ocean**

"Vernon," Petunia whimpered, "Are you sure that beating the child will work? I mean," she hastily corrected herself at Vernon's glare, "those _freaks_ would do stuff to us if they found out!"

Vernon put his arms on the table with a thump. She had a point. But… "We'll start out slow…small punishments…if…_they_ come, then we'll stop, or try some other way. But surely," he began to grin, his eyes narrowing in contemplation and greed, "surely they won't notice the boy doing some _chores_, would they? It's normal for that."

Petunia's eyes lit up as well, "Of course!" she exclaimed, "and they can't _really_ expect us to spend all our money on the bra- boy."

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"Oh yes they do! You better treat my son right!" Lily stood up and pointed a trembling hand at her sister's malicious face.

"Don't worry, _Lils_," Sirius shot at her, "Me and Remus are still there, we'll take him away from there. Won't we Moony?" Remus nodded determinedly, causing James to jump up from the steps and grab them in a tight hug.

"Prongs…air…need…breathe…" Sirius gasped. Remus, on the other hand, decided to have a little fun, and so, instead of joining Sirius in their normal "crushed-by-hugs" routine, he collapsed, letting his dead weight knock James to the ground. Sometimes a little humor was necessary.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Petunia slapped a hand to her mouth, and looked around, terrified that someone might have heard her insult Harry. When she got no reaction, she decided now was the time for a little bravery. "No," she said clearly, "I meant the BRAT!" After hastily searching the room again, she smirked. "After all, they can't expect us to _love_ the worthless, piece-of-trash, no-good FREAK!"

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"SHUT UP! YOU BITCH OF A MUGGLE!" James Potter ran up to the screen, and began pummeling it with his fists. "YOU'RE THE FREAK! YOU WORTHLESS BITCH! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Sometimes humor was just plain inappropriate. Sirius and Remus stayed silent, and let their friend work out his rage.

Despite his furious efforts, the screen stayed in place, and Petunia's smug face did not change.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Vernon looked at Petunia in horror. He couldn't understand why his wife was shouting for all those freaks to hear. It took Vernon a moment to realize that the freaks weren't responding to his wife's insults. And surely, if the boy were that important to them, they wouldn't have let him been _insulted_. Vernon smirked, then stood up and swept his wife into an enormous hug. "Brilliant, Petunia," he said, "absolutely brilliant."

Harry, who had spent the majority of the night wide-awake, had fallen asleep, despite his new Aunt's screams. As he turned in his sleep, accidentally knocking a spoon to the ground, his Uncle turned to him, a look of pure disgust covering his face.

"I see you've wrapped him in one of Dudley's old blankets," Vernon said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then glanced at his wife. "Good idea. He's smaller than our Dudley, so we won't need to pay for his stuff. We'll just let him have Dudley's old things. After all," he continued with a glare at the bundle of old blankets, "they didn't bother to leave us any money."

Petunia looked aghast. "No money?" she whispered. "Well then," she said, straightening up, "we'll just have to cut costs where we can. Using Dinky Diddydums old clothes will do fine. Since he's a much smaller boy, he'll need less food, and less space than Diddydumkins does." Vernon nodded. "He can sleep in the closet," he said gleefully, "I'm not paying for a nightlight for the boy."

With that, he charged out of the room, opened the closet, and began to rip things out of there at an immense pace. Everything from diapers to towels, to toilet tissue and washcloths came flying out in a hundred different directions. "There!" he said, pulling back at last, "We'll get your father's old army cot, give him a few of the more worn out blankets, and some of Dudley's old clothes, and we can forget about him for as long as we can." With that, he roughly grabbed the sleeping Harry, and dropped him in a pile of blankets in the middle of the closet floor. He then shut the door, and locked it.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

It was silent at Hogwarts. At least, as silent as a Great Hall filled with upset students and professors can be. The Marauders (excluding Wormtail) had moved to the first row, and asked to switch seats with a few fourth-years. Peter had since moved to the farthest row he could sit in, and ended up sitting with a few Seventh-years who supported Voldemort.

Now was not a time for witty remarks, angry outbursts, or weeping condolences. Now was a time to see the damage, and to try to minimize it.

.-o.-o.-o.-o

There was a break between the 'scenes' because little Harry's next important moment didn't seem to happen until a few years later. During that time, James stood up, and went over to Lily. He ignored the scornful looks he was recieveing from Severus, and asked Lily if she thought it was possible that Harry would be physically abused. "Obviously," he had said, "the emotional abuse will happen."

Lily looked at her shoes, scuffing them along the floor. She had listened in silent horror while her sister insulted her child. And only she knew the secret about Petunia. "As girls," she began, choking over her tears, "Petunia and I used to talk about what would turn us on." Her face began to turn red, and she refused to look at James and Severus, who were now watching her intently. "What I said doesn't matter, but—but she said that," here she choked again, and reached out for several tissues from the floating boxes. "This was the only time she ever spoke of anything in the Wizarding World as 'good.' She said that she wished the Vampires weren't as bad as they were made out to be, because she was turned on by the idea of…the idea of blood." Lily ended in a whisper, knowing that what she was saying could and would destroy her son's life.

"She always told me how happy she was dating Vernon, because he…he shared that idea." She hung her head in shame, as if, by telling James about her sister's fetish, she was to blame for Harry's torment.

Severus gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her the comfort she needed, one from a friend. James, on the other hand, was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, trying to find something to say that would help comfort the crying girl.

"Would you, er, would _both_ of you, like to come to the first row with Sirius, Remus, and me? There'll be _no_ pranking, I promise."

Lily looked hesitant, and Severus was clearly against the idea. James took a deep breath, and continued, "Look, none of us are the best of friends, and basically none of us ARE friends. But in the future we're obviously going to get together, and we're the only ones who'll REALLY understand what's going on now. Join us?"

Lily gave a soft laugh. "I never though I'd see the day where James Potter would legitimately sound smart. I'll come," she said, rising to her feet. "Severus?" He glared, but gave a brief nod, and followed Lily out of the row. He wasn't going to let her get ruined by the Marauders!

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

A/N: Review please? Comments are always appreciated. Sometimes something is said that gives me a great idea! Lemme know if you like it, hate it, or if you wanna see something happen. I won't go TOO far from what I'm planning, but I'd love to make some new scenes. Later!


	10. The Birthday to Remember

A/N: Things are starting to get a bit extreme folks. Physical abuse, and sexual abuse coming up! Will the Dursleys ever get their due? I dunno. Someone will have to find out first. And from what we know, nobody still really knows. BTW, this story WILL NOT include stuff from HBP. I'm sorry, but I didn't like that story. It just doesn't work in accordance to my Potter-verse.

Sorry all! I can't do three-year-old talk that well! Just think that the Dursleys have firmly _insisted_ that Harry talk 'normally' though Dudley will be a lot less progressed.

Oh yeah, Present-Time comments will be getting less and less. It just works better for me that way. I think the one thing that has to be remembered is that they ARE seeing this, even if they aren't saying anything.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

**Chapter Eight: From Two to (Almost) Eleven, Part III**  
**OR: The Birthday to Remember**

The giant screen flickered several times. It would show minute long flashes of Harry being insulted or yelled at. It was bad enough for Lily and the Marauders to hear what their son or nephew (or godson) had to go through, but it was good to know that there had been no physical abuse.

Yet.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O 

July 31st. Harry's third birthday.  
--------  
As always, the first noise of Harry's day was his Aunt Petunia snapping at him to get up. Today, however, such comments were unnecessary. Harry was wide-awake. He remembered a month or so ago, Dudley had turned three. He had been thrown an enormous party that Harry had been excluded from, and he had got nineteen presents from his family alone.

Today was Harry's birthday. Today he would be getting some presents, and he would be having a party. Maybe not as large as Dudley's had been, but then again, everything Dudley got was larger and better than whatever Harry got, clothes, meals, number of friends…everything.

Harry quickly clambered off of his cot. Its frame wobbled dangerously as he lowered his body to the floor, and its thin, lumpy mattress nearly fell off the rusted springs. It wasn't hard for him to pick out his outfit, he only had four different sets of clothes, all of them much to large for his tiny body. Despite his now being three years of age, he could have been mistaken for an unhealthy two year-old, except for the fact that he had very little child-pudge on him. He was very skinny, and if he wasn't wearing a shirt, someone could have counted how many ribs he had.

He pulled some spiders off of his hand-me-down pants with a slight shudder. Having lived with them for almost two years, they were still kind of creepy.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Remus drew in a breath. They were making him sleep with spiders! As if being under the stairs wasn't bad enough! And couldn't they afford to feed the boy!

He turned his head, only to see Sirius, the playboy marauder who never cried, reach for some tissues to wipe away his tears. "I'll kill them," he muttered, "No one gets away with treating my godson like that."

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Harry entered the kitchen only to find his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin sitting at the table eating eggs and bacon. There were no presents in sight. Even though his Aunt had repeatedly told him not to ask questions, he couldn't help himself. "Uncle Vernon?" he asked.

Vernon turned and glared at him. He put down his newspaper with a loud smack, and growled, "What, freak?"

Harry shivered. His Uncle looked irritated, but not mad yet, maybe he was lucky today? "I-it's my birt-day today," he stated, then glanced around the room, "When it was Dud-ey's birt-day, all his pwesents were on the table. Where's mine?" All of this was said in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, and then, an innocently questioning one.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"Yeah!" James interjected loudly. "Where are his presents? It's my son's birthday! He should be getting the best! What did you muggles get him?" His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he tensed in his seat. Despite his growing fury, he couldn't help but be a little "girly" in his reaction to Harry's slight slurring of the "r"s. It was so cute, he made them sound like dropped "w"s.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Vernon, however, refused to listen to the tone of voice. Instead, his face turned red, and he inhaled sharply, as if to yell at Harry for daring to ask for a present.

Before he could speak, Petunia cut him off. "I have a present for you, boy." She said, in a sickly sweet voice. With that, she thrust a spatula into his hands, pulled a chair up by the stove, and put him on it. "You get to make your own breakfast. And since we're so nice, you can make your Uncle's and Duddy's as well. And don't you dare spoil it!" she snapped. "You're three now, you can start to earn your keep around here. It costs money to feed you, you know!"

Vernon smiled. Yes, the boy was three now. Three is a perfect age to start… disciplining. His smile widened as he thought of his new belt he had bought. The one with the large, sharp buckle. He patted his stomach. It was fate, of course, that decided he should wear it today, and who was he to deny fate? After all, the boy had better learn to do his jobs correctly the first time around. He watched as Harry climbed down from the chair, and pulled it over to one of the cabinets.

Harry reached up, and pulled out a bowl, and, getting down from the chair again, got a fork from the drawer. He remembered that when Aunt Petunia made eggs, she would take some eggs, and break them into a bowl. She would then mix them with a fork, add milk, salt, and pepper, then put them in a pan with some butter until they turned stiff. He gave a quick nod, and smiled to himself as he once again dragged the heavy chair along the floor to the fridge. He pulled out the egg carton, and put five eggs into the bowl. Two for Uncle, two for Dudley, and maybe one for him, if he was good. His hands trembled as he replaced the carton, but he took it slow, knowing that if he dropped the eggs, Aunt Petunia would get very, very mad.

He tapped the eggs against the side of the bowl until they broke, then dropped the yolk and white into the bowl. However, since Harry was only three, he then dropped the shells in as well. Vernon smirked. _One…_ Harry then pulled the milk bottle out of the fridge, and poured it over the eggs until the bowl was almost full. _Two…_ He smiled to himself, and gave a decisive nod. Now Aunt Petunia would mix them together. He slowly lifted the heavy bowl, and moved it over to the stove. Harry pulled a fork out of the drawer, and began to mix the eggs with the milk with slow, stirring motions. When the yolks broke, and the milk turned a pale yellow, he nodded again, and reached for the salt and pepper.

Harry paused, how much salt was he supposed to put in? He remembered that he had to change the amount for each egg, so he turned the salt shaker over, and shook it one, two, three, four, five…ten times, two for each egg! He repeated the shaking process with the pepper, and began to stir again. He then looked at the heavy pan that was on the stove. It still had leftover egg bits in it, but surely, because he was making MORE eggs, that wouldn't be a problem, would it? He didn't think so. He pulled out the butter stick from the fridge, and plopped the whole thing into the pan. Luckily for Harry, there had only been a quarter of the stick left from the Dursleys' toast, so he didn't put too TOO much in. With that, and another little nod, he turned the flame on.

Vernon now held his hand in front of his mouth, trying to keep his chuckles in. Oh, the freak would get a 'present' today, and more than one! One was the cooking, two was the beating that he couldn't wait to get to, and…hmmm…the boy turned three today, so there should be a third…Vernon's eyes widened as he got struck with an idea. It was illegal, but who would know? Petunia wouldn't care, and later on, Dudley could join him… An unholy glee filled Vernon's whole expression, and Harry would have trembled to see it if he hadn't been turned around.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"What's he planning on doing? I don't like the look on his face!" James blurted out.

Lily shook her head. Vernon's face was so twisted at the moment, it was hard to tell what he was planning. All she knew was that it was bad.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Harry was now trying to cook the eggs. It was taking forever for them to solidify, and parts of the paler places were kind of clumping together and smelling weird. Aunt Petunia gave the boy a look of disgust. He had added _way_ too much milk, and now some of it was curdling! How dare the freak waste their food that way!

After a few more minutes, Harry spooned the once-eggs onto a plate. He looked at them in dismay. Instead of Aunt Petunia's fluffy, yellow eggs, his were a very milky color with a bit of green, and rather slimy. They also had a nasty smell to them, as well as bits of shell sticking out of them at random points.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Peter, who had been sitting quietly, and in horror, shifted in his seat, and tried to lighten the tense atmosphere. "Well," he said, "At least you won't have to deal with his 'breakfast-in-bed's." He then gave a small, quivering smile, which quickly faded at the glares he received. He sadly shook his head, and sunk further into his seat. Why couldn't they understand that even if he _had_ gone bad, he wasn't bad _yet_!

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"Come here, boy," Vernon snarled. Harry looked up in shock.

"What?" he sneered, "You expected to be given a present, and not get punished when you ruined it? You've wasted _our_ food, freak! You've made a complete and utter mess of the kitchen! AND you've almost used up our eggs and milk! Come – here – now!" Vernon's face had turned red, but he still had that disturbing gleam in his eye. "Take off your shirt, and turn around."

As Harry hurried to obey his uncle, Vernon removed his belt, and gave it a few testing flicks. The leather thong responded nicely, giving a loud **crack** every time Vernon snapped it.

Harry trembled as he heard the loud cracks. He hadn't _meant_ to ruin the meal, he really hadn't! But Uncle Vernon would never believe that, would he? Another loud crack came, and the belt snapped right by his ear. Harry flinched.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

The school was silent. That man wouldn't……he couldn't…it was _wrong_…how could he…what was he doing? He shouldn't…couldn't…be going to do…that…could he?…would he?

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"Count each one, boy!"

Harry nodded, then screamed as he felt a strip along his back burst into pain.

"I said **COUNT** boy! You'll get an extra one for each time you mess up!" Vernon glanced around the kitchen. Petunia had hurried Dudley out before the first hit, but now she was standing in the doorframe, grinning. He could see her getting turned on by the red welt along the brat's back. Vernon grinned. He loved it when it was clear that they shared the same … _tastes_.

_Crack_.  
Harry screamed. "O-one, sir."

_Crack_.  
He screamed again. It hurt so much! "T-t-two, s-sir."

_Crack_.  
By only the fourth hit, Harry was screaming and crying. It felt like his back was being shredded, and he was sure he felt blood running down his back. "Th-three, si-i-ir," he gasped, the words nearly becoming lost in his sobs.

_Crack_.  
"F-f-four, s-si-sir." Vernon's pants were becoming very tight as he watched the freak scream, cry, and as he watched the blood trickle down his back. Petunia's eyes were slightly glazed, she clearly enjoyed this as well.

_Crack_.  
Another scream. "F-f-f-f-f-fi-five, s-ss-ssssssssss……." Harry couldn't finish 'sir', but it wasn't noticed by Vernon. After six hits, Vernon's arm was sore, and tired. He smirked, it would take time, and practice, to get it back into shape.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

If the screen hadn't been protected, it would have been shredded, burned, and completely put out of its existence due to the multitude of hexes that hit it. Even the first years were standing up and yelling jinxes, worthless ones, yes, but they needed something to destroy. Seeing the three-year-old get whipped, _on his birthday_, was too much to bear.

Then it got worse.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Vernon started to put his belt back on, then paused, his erection making things difficult.

"Are you hungry, freak?" he asked Harry.

Harry, still crying, nodded his head. He hadn't had anything to eat in the past two days.

"Well," Vernon said, "stop crying, and I'll feed you."

Harry looked up hopefully, and quickly choked down his sobs. It took a few minutes for him to control himself, and his back was still aching, but his hunger overtook his pain.

Vernon smiled nastily, and dropped his pants, revealing his erection.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Lily screamed. She dug her fingers into the sides of her head, covering her ears, and screamed for all she was worth.

While on the screen a disturbing scene took place, with Harry, clearly uncomfortable, giving his ecstatic uncle head, inside Hogwarts, a loud, low rumbling started.

Headmaster Dippet quickly turned his head in the direction of Lily Evans. She was the only one making noise now. She was standing, her hands almost clawing out her ears as she let out one continuous scream.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Please. Every single wizard knew :

_Hell hath no fury like a witch in mourning_.

Witches who had lost their families, their husbands, their children, had ended up destroying their own homes in their grief.

Lily Evan's shock, anger, and pain was bringing down Hogwarts.

As Dippet started forwards, Lily's magical cry was cut off by the most unlikely person.

James Potter, well known enemy of Lily Evans, had his arms wrapped around her and was whispering in her ear. Above their heads, their only son was locked in his cupboard after Vernon had orgasmed.

Dippet shook his head sadly, and thanked Merlin that everyone was obliviated before they would leave the room.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

A/N: This, folks, was why this story is rated 'M'.

I'm not going to be going straight to the first book, (the zoo incident), because this story isn't dealing with the books, it's dealing with HARRY. And the books never really say how Harry became who he is. I'm bringing that out. I honestly don't know how many chapters will be spent on his pre-Hogwarts life, but it won't be the whole story! I promise!

Thanks to all who reviewed!

More reviews please!


	11. I Want A Reunion

A/N: Things are gonna get a bit teary now…enjoy! Sorry about the stupid "1"s but isn't letting me put a dot or something like that there.

Please review?

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

**Chapter Nine: From Two to Eleven, Part IV  
OR: I Want A Reunion**

Lily Evans, now suppressing her emotional magic, kept her eyes fixated upon the giant screen. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks as she saw abuse being heaped upon her only son, but she never once spoke, or turned to see who said what, when the Marauders' outcries were too loud to be ignored.

1

Three year-old Harry becoming the chef of the family.  
Three year-old Harry becoming friends with and talking to the spiders.  
Three year-old Harry getting beaten for giving his Aunt flowers on Mother's day.

Four year-old Harry, after being brutally whipped, swearing off crying.  
Four year-old Harry cleaning up the scalding oil that had 'accidentally' been spilled out of the pan by his Aunt, onto his legs. He was blamed.  
Four year-old Harry eating moldy bread and cheese. For a week. He was grateful to eat.

Five year-old Harry finding out his name a week before the first day of school. And it wasn't 'Boy' or 'Freak' like he had thought.

1

What horrified Lily the most was that the charm only showed the really _important_ parts of Harry's life. If what she was seeing was the most important, then what classified as _un_important?

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry Potter was five years, and seven months old. He now could easily cook many meals for his family, though he was unable to cook the more complex foods. He was still punished every time he made a slight mistake, cried, or irritated his Aunt, Uncle, or cousin.

Dudley had started joining in Harry's beatings. The pleasure that Dudley drew from it was sick, just like his father's was. The family couldn't have been more proud.

Of course, Harry had no idea that what was happening was sick, or even wrong. All he knew was that he was a freak, worthless, unlovable, and no matter how hard he tried, his surrogate family would never love him. That didn't stop him from trying though. He went out of his way to please his Aunt or his Uncle; and while his Uncle claimed that he was good for a suck-off, no matter how hard Harry tried to be good at it, he would still get hit when it was over.

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had left to go to the cinema, leaving Harry to clean up after dinner. Uncle Vernon, of course, had been furious about leaving Harry alone in the house, so he ruthlessly beat, whipped, and burned him (by holding his hand on the stove burner), called him degrading names, and threatened to beat him "within an inch of his life" if he did anything "freaky".

It was all he could do not to start crying, but sobbing had never accomplished anything except create more pain. So Harry went about cleaning the kitchen with his head lowered, his eyes half-shuttered, but his emotions calm. On the outside.

Uncle Vernon had been harsher than normal the past few months. He had insulted Harry's parents, calling them drunks, lazy slobs, and his mother, a whore.

Harry didn't want to believe what his Uncle had said.

"_You deserved to be drowned at birth! Your freak whore of a mother couldn't wait to get rid of you! Why do you think we got stuck with you, boy? **Nobody** loved you! **Nobody** can! Not even your parents!"_

His parents had loved him, right? Harry couldn't imagine his mum hating him. But he wasn't sure. After all, he'd never met them. Harry wasn't dumb, he knew that they were dead, killed in a car crash. But…what if they hadn't really loved him?

"Mum…" he whispered. He slowly dried the cutting board and placed it in its rack. "Did you really hate me? Dad… have I always been bad? Did I really make you…get rid of me?" Tears filled his eyes, but he didn't dare release them, even if Uncle Vernon wasn't around.

"You're in Heaven now…" Harry whispered again, closing his eyes, a rare smile lighting up his face. "You and Dad, you're laughing, right? You love each other…and you love me." Harry opened his eyes as if expecting to see Lily and James right in front of him with their arms wide open. Instead, his eyes met the knife he was involved with drying.

His eyes took on a determined light. "You want me with you, so we can be a family. Because you love me, and you miss me. But I can't get to Heaven, I'm still alive." He dropped the towel, and moved over to the sink. His voice was strong as he tried to convince himself that what he was saying was true.

"You can't come to me," he said, "I'll come to you."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Lily screamed.

James shot up from his chair. "Don't be an idiot Harry! We'd rather have you alive!"

Remus turned pale, and tightly gripped Sirius's shoulder, who clutched Remus's in return.

Severus rested his head in his hand, discreetly covering his eyes.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry James Potter was out cold, blood streaming from his wrists. A small smile was on his face.

1

1

Slowly, a glow began to come from his body. It grew until the entire room was filled with flowing, pulsating golden light. The light condensed into two streams, which made a sharp turn, and plunged into Harry's wrists, leaving them whole.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Thank Merlin," Lily breathed, before turning her head into James' shoulder to cry.

The Marauders (including Severus) were in shock. Scratch that, the whole school's population was in shock.

How much power did this one small child have?

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

A/N: **Do you have _any_ idea how tempted I was to stop after **"A small smile was on his face"**? Do you? Huh? Huh?** You probably do. It seemed like the perfect place to end it, but I was nice.

For the record: HARRY NEVER HAS ACTUAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH ANY OF THE DURSLEYS. He has given Vernon head, and will end up doing the same to Dudley later on. Abuse will also come to them biting him while humping him (with one or both of them wearing at least boxers). Just to make that traumatizingly clear.

Review please!


	12. Not Your Standard Circus Animals

A/N: Sorry for the long update, but school started, and I had no motivation to start writing. Honestly. The more reviews I get, the faster the chapters come. And with what I got…just didn't really seem…whatever. Thanks to those who did review…all three of you. I really do appreciate it, and to you, I apologize for the delay. To the rest…just review. Please.

**Chapter Ten: From Two to Eleven, Part V**  
**OR: Not Your Standard Circus Animals.**

Lily was sobbing into her hands uncontrollably. She didn't know how she could continue to watch her future son's life play on the screen. Every minute she saw seemed to tear into her, showing her just how much she failed to care for and to protect her son. _It was Peter…It was Peter…Peter's fault…it's his fault…_ It took all of her self control not to pounce onto the filthy rat and beat him into a pulp. He was their friend! Or, had been. After all, Peter had been one of the Marauders. Maybe not as smart or as talented, but he was kind, and funny, and always ready to lend a helping hand. When had he changed? _Had_ he changed? Could he still be the same Peter that they thought he was? Lily snorted. He probably was. But that didn't make the pain go away. Her son just tried to commit suicide, and it was only his intense magical power that kept him alive. The way things were going…maybe it would have been better if he died. How much hell did her son have to go through?

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

It had been several years since little Harry tried to kill himself. He was now a small, malnourished boy of nine. Of course, one couldn't tell. He looked like he was still six or seven.

Aunt Petunia had long ago been forced by the school to buy Harry a pair of glasses. (_A short clip shown to the school._) They now rested on his cupboard shelf, a black, ugly pair with the nosepiece broken from being hit too many times.

Dudley Dursley, along with his father, Vernon, was comfortably seated in the living room, watching a cartoon on the telly. Uncle Vernon was reading a newspaper, every once in a while looking up to smile proudly at his son. Aunt Petunia was in the sitting room, working on a lovely piece of embroidery.

Harry snorted. _How can someone so mean make something so pretty?_ he asked himself. Aunt Petunia was very talented in making beautiful stitches on a piece of cloth, he though, ripping weeds out of the garden. She was also very talented in giving him concussions, burns, and a near non-existent stomach, not to mention a low self-esteem.

Uncle Vernon stood up, folding the newspaper under his arm and stretching. "Time for bed, Dudley," he said, fondly ruffling the blonde hair on his large son's head. "Petunia," he called into the sitting room, "I'll be upstairs." He stood up and walked over to the kitchen window, and leaned out, nearly knocking over the clock, which now read 10:45 pm.

"_Boy!_" he hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I see you've been too lazy to paint the fence, wash the car, _or_ clean out the garage!"

Harry looked up wearily. "I'm sorry, Uncle," he whispered, "I had to finish the chores Aunt Petunia gave me."

Vernon sneered. "I don't care how long it takes, you little piece of filth, but you're not coming inside until _all_ your chores are done." He grinned malevolently. "I'll see you tomorrow, _freak_." With that, Vernon shut the window, and proceeded to lock all the doors and windows.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Remus sighed. He could see that it was a full moon on the screen, and was more than thankful that at least, at this time, Harry was far away from any Wizarding area's that might have had Werewolves about.

…Oops.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry sighed. Another all-nighter. At least it was a full moon, so he could see what he was doing. He remembered the last time he had to work all night, and had asked Aunt Petunia for a torch _(flashlight)_. He grimaced as he ran his hand over his chest, feeling the scars that were inflicted that night.

Harry had only just finished with the garden when his Aunt shut off the lights, and went to bed. He stretched and yawned, looking balefully at the car. What he would give for Uncle Vernon not to notice if it wasn't washed…but Harry had tried that before, and had earned even more injuries from it. He grunted as he went to fill a large bucket with soap and water, so he could wash it without waking the neighbors.

Harry glanced at his watch as he lugged the bucket toward the car. 11:15. He doubted he would get any sleep tonight. He sighed again as he pushed up his sleeves and reached for the sponge. Before he could pick it up, however, he heard a loud, deep howl. Harry tensed his whole body, and began to look around the street for wherever the dog could have been.

He didn't have to look far. In a patch of moonlight from behind Number Twelve, Harry saw a large, grey creature step out, brown eyes darting all over as white fangs gleamed in the light.

It was a wolf. And there seemed to be several more with it.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"So this is another MOMENTOUS moment in my son's life? He becomes a WEREWOLF? WHY CAN'T HE BE BLOODY NORMAL?" James was standing on his chair, screaming at the image of Harry nervously crouching behind the car. "Erm…" James suddenly sat down, and turned to Remus, "No offense, or anything Moony. I just…well…you know…."

Remus smiled. It was so nice to hear his friends fumble for words. He gave a slight nod to indicate that he understood and wasn't upset, but he decided to let James translate it as he would. A little bit of revenge.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry slowly lowered the bucket, eyeing the wolves fearfully. He couldn't tell what, but something seemed almost _wrong_.

One of the wolves howled again, and began to advance on Harry.

Harry froze, still looking closely at the wolf.

The grey beast was thin, so thin, in fact, that its ribs could be seen beneath the thick fur. Its brown eyes looked at Harry hungrily, seeing a chance at some food. It slowly advanced, shaking its head, and letting out a sort of snort. He could smell the flesh on the boy, it was little, but enough.

Harry trembled as the animal crept closer. He might have had a shitty life, but he sure as heck had no desire to die.

He raised his hand to his pocket, suddenly remembering the bacon he had managed to sneak out that morning. He pulled the single piece out, and began to shred it in his hands. Perhaps, if the pack was just hungry, they'd eat the bacon and leave him alone.

With his childish mentality firmly in place, Harry slowly walked forwards, holding the shredded bacon in his outstretched hand.

"Hey," he whispered, "I know it's not much, but it's something at least."

The Leader of the pack halted his approach, his ears pricked up at the sound of Harry's voice. He cocked his head to the side, looking curiously at the human who tried to reason with him.

"You look pretty thin," Harry continued, keeping his eyes locked with the Leader's, his hand still reaching out. "You kind of remind me of, well, me. Underfed and all, I mean. You all can have this you know," he said, raising his voice slightly so the rest of the pack could hear. The wolf also gave a sharp nod, and slowly, the other four wolves began to slink forwards, keeping in the light as to not startle the child, though why they were being so cautious, none of them knew. All the wolves wanted to do was rip the boy to pieces and eat him, but something was holding them back. Something warm was gently wrapped around them, stroking them, petting them, and whatever it was kept them from charging the boy, and instead, made the bacon seem like a better meal.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Remus exhaled sharply. Perhaps…perhaps some sort of mental cure had been created for werewolves, so that they would remember who they were. But then, why hadn't it worked before now? After all, for the first few moments, all the wolves seemed ready to charge little Harry down.

Severus was staring at the screen, muttering softly under his breath. His mind was working at an overly-quick pace, trying to figure out what could have been used to prevent the beasts from attacking. Without removing his eyes from the scene, he reached into his bag and pulled out a quill and some parchment and ink, and began to write notes down in his scrawling hand, now messier than ever because he wasn't looking at where he was writing.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Harry sat on the ground, in the middle of a large circle of wolves. He smiled as they butted their heads against him, searching for the elusive bacon. Harry leaned forwards and began to spread the small amount of meat in a circle around him.

Harry blinked. And blinked again. He'd only had _one_ piece of bacon, right? So why was he laying out fistfuls?

The wolves lay down, resting their muzzles right next to the bacon for easy access. As the boy stroked their sides, they contentedly ate the bacon, languidly stretching out, feeling the magic continue its gentle caress.

The small congregation remained like that for hours. Harry would pet a wolf, then move on to run his hand over the next one. It wasn't until he came around to a light brown wolf for the second, or was it third-or fifth-or more (he couldn't remember), time, that the idleness of the scene was disturbed.

The female werewolf's muzzle was around Harry's hand in an instant, holding it imprisoned, but not puncturing the skin. The rest of her pack turned their eyes to see what had disturbed her, and they all saw the thin white scars running up Harry's arm.

Harry blushed, noticing what had caught these animals' eyes. "I-it's nothing, really," he said, stuttering slightly, "It's not like they hurt any more, Uncle Vernon was just…a little upset at the time." He tried to tug his arm away, but the female refused to let go. She gazed at him, as if saying _Show Us._

Harry blinked. Had he just heard…? But that's impossible… _Show us, Little One. Show us where he hurt you._ There it was again. Even though Harry knew that he didn't know who was talking to him (for it _couldn't_ be the wolf, could it?) and he didn't know who was watching, he slowly removed his shirt and pants, leaving his underwear on for modesty's sake.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"I'll kill them. I'll fucking murder them all."

"James—"

"I don't care if she's your sister, I'll fucking kill her!"

"I know—but I have to help."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Pale skin shone in the moonlight, pure white scars carved into almost every inch of now visible flesh. Most were just jagged lines running down the length of the back, but there were several burn scars as well. And in the center of Harry's back lay the work _FREAK_ permanently etched into his body, a small sign for the world to see just what he was. At least, that's what he thought.

The pack talked mentally to each other, leaving Harry out of the link. Then, as one, they raised their heads and howled to the sky. It was a low, mournful cry, one full of tears and pain, but it contained hope, and pleading.

The night sky suddenly lit up, as bright flashes of white fire began to spark all over the sky. From each fire came swooping down a pure white bird with golden markings. Harry had never seen birds like these, their tails were long, their wings were broad, and the song they chirped made him feel as if he could do anything, as if he were loved by every one.

Flash after flash lit the sky, song after warbling song filled the air, and Phoenix after Phoenix (though Harry didn't know what they were) landed on the ground. The flames slowed, then ceased as over one hundred gleaming Phoenixes gathered, all of their many colored eyes focused on Harry. They saw the scars running along his flesh, and they felt his magic unconsciously reach out and caress them. They felt the pureness that was Harry, for it was a pureness that no human being could fake having, and so far, it was a pureness that nobody had ever had. 'Course, then there was Harry. He was not even aware of the fact that he had broken so many rules already, or that he would continue to do so for his life.

One by one, the Phoenixes launched themselves into the air, singing their mournful, wonderful song, circling around Harry. One by one, their tears fell through the air, until Harry felt as if he was standing in the middle of a hurricane without the wind. His green eyes remained focused on the white cloud of birds flying above him, and so he did not notice his scars (minus the one on his head) begin to fade, nor did he pay any attention to the werewolves slinking away. All he knew at the moment was that the song was filling him as he'd never felt before, unless at one point, he had felt this way in his mother's arms.

All at once, the Phoenixes vanished in their fire, leaving Privet Drive much darker than before, and just as empty as it was at the very start of the night.

Harry stood there, shocked. Had it all just been a dream, a dream he would have loved to have over and over again? He looked around, there were his unfinished chores, plus one for the dream scenario, but over there in the street was a pile of shredded bacon, still good to eat, and on his arms, (and the rest of him body, though he would not find out till tomorrow) his scars were gone. Plus infinity for reality.

In a daze, Harry raced through his chores, finishing long before his Uncle woke up, and leaving enough time for him to feast on the pile of bacon before him.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

A/N: Wow! Done, finally. Sorry it took so long, but I really wanted to get all of it in there. I don't know when the next one will come (chapter, that is), but I do know that it will come MUCH faster if I get some reviews. Till then, ja!


	13. The Syllibant S

A/N: Wow…long time no see, eh? Thanks mondo-ly (not a real word, I know) to those who reviewed! To those who didn't, please do. It really does mean a lot to me. Really, the only thing I ask is that if you put me on your Favorites, or Alerts, gimme a review.

And to those who've been waiting, we finally start getting into the books. I'm gonna be trying to get the Marauder's POV's in more often, but it's a bit hard. I'll try.

**Chapter Eleven: From Two to Eleven, Part VI**  
**OR: The Syllibant "S"**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Even though less than two years had passed, Harry was once again scarred. His back was covered in white lines, but due to some latent healing power woken by the Phoenixes, the scars had no texture, and his back remained smooth. His chest also had a few wicked slashes running around his nipples, but a shirt easily hid all of these.

Currently, Harry was curled up in his cupboard, asleep. He was smiling slightly, and even though his wrist was magically mending from a break, he did not stir.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lily smiled sadly, looking at her poor child, her baby boy. The date counter currently read sometime in late June, but she could see that Harry was uncomfortably cool by the gooseflesh he had.

"James," she said quietly, "look how peaceful he is. What do you think he's dreaming of?"

"Us," the marauder replied proudly, "He's got to have some memories of us, so he'll remember that." He pulled Lily into a gentle hug, adjusting himself so he could stroke her head while he watched his son, his **son**, live. _Perhaps_ James thought, _just maybe I can stop some of this. I don't care what Mr. Tall, Smart, and Scrawny says! Things have already changed, haven't they? Lily is leaning **on ME**, and I'm being civil to Snape, for Merlin's sake! That's got to count for something! Besides…the Marauders will never be quite the same after this…Merlin Pete, why?_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Up!" A shrill voice broke the mornings quiet. "Get up, you little beast! Up!"

Harry jerked awake, and just as suddenly plopped back onto his sorry excuse for a bed. It was too _early_ to be up! Every muscle in his body was sore from Uncle Vernon's attack yesterday. Harry shuddered. No matter how many times Uncle Vernon raped him, he still would whimper, scream, or cry. If only Vernon wouldn't spend so much time finding ways to torture him! How many times last night had Vernon bit him? Harry was pretty sure he had passed out from blood loss. At times like this he could swear his Uncle was a vampire.

His Aunt's screech jarred him abruptly out of his musings. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly!" Harry replied, not letting any of his exhaustion or bitterness creep into his voice.

"Well, move faster!" Petunia snapped, "You've got to watch the bacon! And don't you _dare_ let it burn! Everything has to be perfect for my Duddies birthday!"

Harry rapidly dressed, flinging spiders off at random instead of setting them down as he normally would. Dudley's birthday! Oh, how could he have forgotten! He sat on his "bed", and pulled on his sock. "Oh God," he whispered, horror appearing on his face as he remembered what one of Dudley's presents had been the year before. "Uncle Vernon's going to let him…fuck me…"

He shoved his foot into the other sock, then his shoes. He had heard Petunia walking down the hall, and if she saw him panicking, well, he didn't want to think about it. Without a second thought, he jammed his glasses on his face and opened the cupboard door.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Severus stared horrified. Let an eleven-year old boy have sexual intercourse with one not even eleven? One who looked like he could still be eight! Even _he'd_ never had it _that_ bad…his father had only yelled and beaten him…but he'd never been…raped. When had this happened? The last time they saw Harry touched by his uncle was the first time, when he was forced to give his overweight Troll of an uncle head.

He turned his face towards Remus, the only other some-what intelligent one in the group (Lily wasn't in any condition to think coolly). Remus caught the look, and nodded his understanding and agreement.

Harry hadn't thought that being raped by his uncle was a big deal.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Harry finished the bacon, Dudley, sensing that his feeding-time was imminent, lumbered into the room, chins wobbling and fat shaking. Vernon followed not too far behind, smiling broadly at his son before turning to Harry and snapping, "Comb your hair!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

James giggled nervously. "Sorry bo-- child. Kid. Son. Sorry, son. There's nothing you can do about it."

Sirius laughed. "He could cut it all off. Use a…a lawn-mower." He grinned proudly at the thought of using the correct Muggle term.

The joke fell flat, leaving James completely unaffected. How often had little Harry, his SON, gotten hurt because of the genes he had given him?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"…Thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six," Dudley scowled. "Only thirty-six? That's two less than last year!" He gestured violently at the stacks of wrapped presents that covered the table, barely leaving room for Harry to set down the plates of food.

"Sweetie," Aunt Petunia said coaxingly, "You haven't counted the one from Aunt Marge, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy, see?"

Glancing at Dudley, Harry scarfed his burnt piece of toast down, seeing a DudlyDursleyTantrum ahead. Apparently Petunia did too, for she quickly added "and we'll buy you _two_ more presents when we go out today. Is that alright Popkin, _two_ more presents?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ooh," Severus sneered, "You're asking the brat to do hard work there, adding the two together." Loathing dripped from every syllable Severus spoke, for this was the type of creature (he couldn't bring himself to call it a 'boy') that he despised most.

"I'm surprised he was able to count so high," James muttered, "I bet Harry can beat him in every subject!"

"Of course he can," Lily added smugly, "after all, he must have gotten at least some of my intellect."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dudley sat. And sat. Thirty-six plus two? How could his mother expect him to do that! He was only eleven after all, not in some bloody university!

"So I'll have thirty…. Thirty…." It WAS in the thirty's, wasn't it? Not in the forty's at all, at least, he didn't think so.

"Thirty-nine Duddums."

"Oh…. Alright." With that, he lent forwards and began to rip the wrapping off of his extravagantly expensive (and worthless) gifts. While he was in the middle of tearing a balloon-covered paper off of an electric bike, Aunt Petunia got up to take the phone call that had just come in.

* * *

Three presents later (a miniature airplane, a drum kit, and a racing bike) she came back into the room, looking pale and nervous.

"Bad news, Vernon. Figg's broken her leg, she can't take Him."

Uncle Vernon and Dudley looked up in horror. _Harry_, come along to the zoo with them? It couldn't be! Harry, on the other hand, kept his eyes averted so that he could retain his stoic face. After all, it would just make Uncle Vernon's day to be able to punish him for "causing all this fuss" like always.

Dudley, by this time, was screaming and 'crying', as his parents debated furiously over his head what to do with "that child." After discarding such ideas as leaving him at home (he'd blow up the house!), leaving him in the car, (he'd blow up the car!), and other things which he'd also end up blowing up (_Honestly_ Harry thought, _you'd think I carried bombs around with me all the time!_) an agreement was reached only by the timely arrival of Piers Polkiss, Dudley's rat-faced friend.

* * *

Today had to be the best day in Harry's life! Not only was he at the _zoo_, but he'd gotten a lemon pop, and when Dudley threw a fit because his Knickerbocker Glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Harry actually got to finish it! At one point, while looking at the monkeys, he'd even gotten away with describing (under his breath of course) a large ape as looking like Dudley, but not blonde. (The Marauders were in stitches, they couldn't be more proud.) Sadly, he should have known by now that good things never lasted.

* * *

"Make it move!"

Dudley was hanging on to the railing surrounding the tanks in the Reptile House. In Harry's opinion, this was one of the best rooms, if the noisiest. He couldn't understand how the few families in the room could work up such a chatter! But it was a cool room at least, much better from the blazing June sun outside, and it wasn't as bright. Dudley and Piers were also occupied at ogling the largest snakes, as well as the most venomous ones, and imagining who they could do in if they had a snake like that. At the moment, Dudley was prompting Uncle Vernon to tap the glass tank again, too lazy to do it for himself. All of Vernon's efforts were in vain however, and the gigantic python just snoozed on, clearly bored with all of the human's infernal racket.

As Dudley and Vernon moved along, Harry walked up to the sleeping python. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to be trapped in a cage. After all, yeah, he was normally shut in the cupboard, but he could move around the house, and go to school and stuff!

"Sorry about that," he whispered to the snake, feeling like some apology was in order, "It must be awful, people rapping on your glass all day, not letting you get some peace."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Awww…it's so cute! Harry's trying to make friends with the snake!" Lily giggled and cooed over her son's unnecessary politeness.

The men just rolled their eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Slowly, the python opened its eyes, and raised its head level with Harry's. It nodded, and winked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Bloody hell…my son's…a Parseltounge!"

"Ten galleons he's in Slytherin, Potter."

"Shove it, Snape. ……………Oh holy hell…….."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"You, you can understand me?" The snake nodded, winking again.

"Oh. Well. Umm, so…where are you from?" The snake jerked its head to a sign next to its tank. **Boa Constrictor, Brazil**. "Oh. Umm…was it nice there?" The constrictor rolled its eyes and jerked its head at the sign again. **This specimen was raised in the zoo**. "Oh, I see. So you've never been to Brazil."

Unfortunately for Harry, Piers returned right as the python was shaking its head. He called for Dudley, who can running as fast as he could, and shoved Harry onto the cement.

Both boys eagerly leaned forward, looking closely for more tricks, when the entire glass pane in front of the snake vanished. Quickly the snake began unwinding itself, coil after coil sliding out of the tank. It playfully nipped at Dudley and Piers, before slithering off right past Harry with a faint "Thanksss, amigo."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Remus turned to James, eyes wide. "Is Parseltounge a family gift?" James shook his head numbly.

"How'd he get it then?"

For once, know-it-all-Lupin was just as confused as the rest.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: GAH! I don't know how only a tiny part of this got updated, but I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Here's the full chapter! And yes, I know that I didn't go into Harry's punishment and all, but it showed the IMPORTANT parts. And no, Dudley did NOT rape Harry. And he bloody NEVER WILL:growls: Ah heh heh. Anyhoo, review please? Pretty please?


	14. Preview

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the huge delay with the story. The chapter will be up sometime next week, but in the meantime, here's a little preview, as an apology for the delay.

* * *

**PREVIEW**

* * *

"He's blind…" Remus whispered, tears filling his own amber eyes. "My cub is blind…"

* * *

"Who would write to me?" Harry whispered. "I'm not…worth writing to. Who would be stupid enough to want to write to an unloveable freak?"

* * *

"If someone wants to write to you," Dudley sneered, "They probably just want to fuck you." He grinned wickedly, a lustful light in his eyes. "Which reminds me, I never got my birthday present."

* * *

Harry's breath slowed as he stroked the purple wax seal, with the images on it. Each figure, the lion, the raven, the badger, and the snake, called to him. As he lay a finger on each, memories flitted through his mind.

* * *

Remus shook, his own memories swamping his mind. His aunt, calling him a freak of nature, trying to kill him. Sirius reached over, trying to calm his friend, and ended up with a quivering Remus sitting in his lap. As Sirius stroked his friend's hair, he wondered at how the roles were reversed, how Remus was always the one supporting Sirius' family issues. He growled, and swore then and there, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt his pup. 


	15. Who's Writing To Me?

A/N: Wow…huge ass delay. Sorry about that guys. I've got an excuse! A legitimate one!

I procrastinate.

Hey, I never said it was a GOOD one.

(A/N FOR AFTER THE TEASER:

Erk…I know, I know, after the teaser…but I have an even more legitimate excuse! I WAS SOOOO FUCKING SICK! Seriously! I got this up as soon as I could! Oh, and for the few who got ticked when I said a week and then didn't post, at least leave a REPLY LINK so I can TELL you that I was sick!)

**Chapter Twelve: From Two to Eleven, Part VII**  
**OR: Who's Writing To Me?**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"BOY!" Uncle Vernon was furious. And, if the neighbors had cared to pay attention, it would have been obvious by his hoarse scream.

Harry knelt in front of Vernon, head down, hands shaking. His back was already bleeding from the belt lashes, and his left shoulder was dislocated. He stayed silent, for he knew that talking would only provoke his uncle more. Of course, staying silent would have the same effect.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, FREAK!" his uncle yelled, bringing the belt down sharply on Harry's head. Harry slowly raised his eyes, only to have them cut by the buckle. He screamed, but suppressed the urge to raise his hands to his destroyed eyes. The sooner Uncle Vernon was finished, the sooner Harry would be safe in his cupboard to let his eyes heal.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"He's blind…" Remus whispered, tears filling his own amber eyes. "My cub is blind…"

Lily crept into Severus' lap, shaking. Yes, she had some future with James, but right now, she needed the comfort of her best male friend. Severus wrapped his arms tightly around her, soothing her magic, which was ready to destroy the screen in response to her anger. No mother should have to see their child getting beaten over and over until he lost nearly half the blood in his body, and it was only his magic that was keeping him alive. It wasn't fair…it wasn't fair…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry lay in his cupboard, thinking. He had spoken to the snake, and it had understood him. It had make facial expressions (for a snake), despite the fact that snakes do not have eyelids. _What a day…from the best in the world…to hell._ He shifted slightly, raising his left hand to his mutilated eyes. He felt the normal warmth coming from his fingertips into his eyes. He felt the cuts close, and he wiped the blood away. He wearily opened his eyes to see…nothing. His sight was gone, or would take the night to heal.

He lay back, dropping his head heavily onto the pillow, a mistake to do, for pain erupted from the back of his head, as a few drops of blood trickled out of his nose and ears.

He listened to his uncle and cousin's heavy snoring, and his aunt's high pitched wheeze. As he lay, listening to the obnoxious noise as well as the wind and the clock, he heard a low rustle. He listened intently, his body tensing in fear of whoever might have entered the house. And he knew that it was his job to get rid of the probable burglar. God forbid the Dursleys find out a robber had come and he had done nothing.

Harry stood up off of the bed, slowly, blood starting to run from the half-congealed wounds along his back, chest, and thighs. He gave the cupboard door the special push, and it unlocked. _Like magic…_Harry thought, then giggled mentally as he dismissed the idea that he had every night, that it might be magic. Magic just didn't exist. He'd been told that enough times to understand it. After all, he wasn't stupid or anything.

As he crept into the kitchen, eyes wide but unseeing, he tried to reach out with his awareness, a trick he'd learned when he was little, to see if anyone was in there.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Lily," Severus whispered, "your son is talented enough to use his _magic_ to sense things. Even if he is blind…which somehow I doubt he is…he'll cope."

Lily nodded unconvincingly. She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut, to get a timeturner to save her son, but she couldn't. All she could do was sit in horror as her son was tormented before her.

"Besides," Severus whispered again, "look at the date. He should be getting his Hogwarts letter soon. After all, there's no doubt of him being a squib."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry froze as he felt some powerful person enter the room, but it was a strength he felt before, so either he knew the robber (who, judging by their power, must be a boxer or wrestler or something,) or…or he knew the robber.

A sweet, low-pitched warble floated into Harry's ears, and he relaxed his body, closed his eyes, and basked in the phoenix's music. The song grew steadily in volume, though it was clear that the Dursleys wouldn't hear the tune at all. Harry felt talons lightly grip his shoulder, and he felt warm tears sinking into his eyes, and then trickle down his body. When he next opened his eyes, he looked directly into the white bird's dark blue eyes. "Thank you," he whispered, "I don't know what else I can say, and I don't know why you bother to heal a freak like me," (at this, the Phoenix jerked slightly, then started rubbing his head against Harry's cheek), "but thank you."

The Phoenix bowed gracefully, then glowed at he enveloped Harry's neck in some vague attempt at a hug. Harry shivered as he felt…_something_ race through his body.

"That's odd," he murmured, "is your name _Nix_?" The Phoenix nodded. "How do I know that? I don't even know what type of bird you are, though with your plumage, I'd have to say…something…Arctic?"

Nix shook his head humorously, then vanished in a whirl of white fire.

Harry blinked. "Alright. I **know** magic doesn't exist. So what the bloody hell was that?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

James jumped up in anger. "MAGIC DOESN'T EXIST!" he repeated in disbelief. "Dumbledore," he said slowly, pure fury dripping from each word, "You are _so_ lucky I don't kill you right now. _You are FORBIDDEN from interfering in my son's life._"

The magic in the Great Hall swirled up, and bound the stunned Headmaster-to-be. "James," he said, oblivious to what had just happened, "how did your son just bond to a Phoenix?"

James smirked. "Isn't it obvious? He's a Potter. AND my son."

It would be hours before the shock wore off Dumbledore long enough for him to realize how drastically James had just altered the future.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry looked around the kitchen, looking in vain for some sign of magic, some sign that maybe what he had been taught his whole life was wrong. But the clock still ticked away on the wall, and the wind still blew lightly outside. Nothing had changed, except that he could see again, and he **knew** that the bird's name was Nix, though he didn't know what that meant.

He shook his head, and crept silently back to his cupboard, ignoring the fact that his hands were trembling slightly, and tears were slowly dripping down his cheeks.

The next morning after Harry had made (and not eaten) the Dursleys' breakfast, he was sent to fetch the mail (and rapped sharply with Dudley's new Smeltings Stick.)

Harry wearily picked up the bills, postcards, and some odd letter made out of parchment.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"**HIS HOGWARTS LETTER!**" Lily jumped up, and started shifting from foot to foot, her hands clenched tightly in front of her mouth.

"Merlin, Evans! It's just a bloody letter!" a fourth year Ravenclaw shouted out.

Lily jumped. She (as well as the Marauders and Snape) had basically forgotten that the whole school was watching her son's life. She turned around slowly, and took in the varied faces, the shocked, the angry, the sad, the nervous, the amused, and the awed. She easily picked out the Ravenclaw, as he was standing and looking right at her. She smirked. A mumbled curse, and the Ravenclaw was soon crying in pain, clutching at his bruised genitals.

"Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said with a sigh, "Twenty points from Gry-"

Before he could blink, he was staring down the end of Lily's wand. "One word…" she hissed dangerously, "One word Dumbledore, and you'll regret having been born a man."

All of the male population, and a good deal of the females as well, winced, and either covered their lower areas or crossed their legs.

"I'm warning you…" she threatened, "One more word…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry trudged back to the kitchen, and handed Uncle Vernon the day's mail. It was only after he sat down again that he noticed the thick, oddly written letter had his name on it. He caught his breath. It was addressed to:

_Mr. H. Potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey_

He'd never seen another letter like it before. _Maybe,_ he thought, _maybe it has to do with last night! Maybe Nix has something to do with it!_

He waited eagerly for his uncle to see who the letter was addressed to, and for him to hand it over. Harry froze, and his fingers seemed to tingle as Vernon reached the parchment. His hopes died, however, when his Uncle's face flipped through the colors of the rainbow (ending on a solid green,) and when his pudgy fingers began ripping the letter apart in front of Harry's eyes.

Harry's bright green eyes narrowed, and he said, with much more boldness and bravery than he knew he had, "That was **my** letter."

The instant the words had left his mouth, Harry knew he was in trouble.

Vernon's face purpled brilliantly, and he stood up and started screaming, frothy spit flying from his mouth to land all over Harry's face. Harry let himself zone out slightly, listening half-heartedly to the random utterances of "freak," "should have been drowned at birth," "unlovable miscreation of nature," and other such sayings.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Unfortunately, the present day audience at Hogwarts had a perfectly unobscured hearing of the insults Vernon spewed forth.

Remus shook, his own memories swamping his mind. _His_ aunt, calling him a freak of nature, trying to kill him. His few friends deserting him once they found out he was a werewolf, calling him freak.

Sirius reached over, trying to calm his friend, and ended up with a quivering Remus sitting in his lap. As Sirius stroked his friend's hair, he wondered at how the roles were reversed, how Remus was always the one supporting Sirius when his family would drive him to anger or tears. He growled and swore then and there that he wouldn't let anyone hurt his best friend (after James) or his pup.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry sat in his cupboard, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. He ticked off ideas on his fingers, trying to figure out who sent the letter.

"Alright," he muttered, "library-no. Don't have a card. School-no. Doesn't write on parchment. Nix…Nix…no…birds can't write. Well, they can't. They just…can't."

But it was easy to see on Harry's face that he was desperate to believe that Nix had somehow been involved. The silvery-white Phoenix kept popping up into his mind, even as his logic shot it down.

"Who _would_ write to me?" Harry whispered. "I'm not…worth writing to. Who would be stupid enough to want to write to an unlovable freak?" His voice was thick with sarcasm as he repeated his Uncle's words.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"No, no you're not Harry! We love you! Always believe that!"

"Lily," Remus said, "he was being sarcastic. I doubt he really thinks that way about himself."

Lily looked sideways at Remus. "Do you _really_ think so?" she asked cynically.

Remus sighed and didn't answer. _No…_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry sighed. He needed some time alone to think, so being in the cupboard wasn't as bad as it normally was. Unfortunately, Dudley had heard him whisper.

He opened the cupboard door and sneered down at Harry. "If someone wants to write to _you_," Dudley sneered, "They probably just want to fuck you." He grinned wickedly, a lustful light in his eyes. "Which reminds me, I never got my birthday present."

Harry froze. That meant that Dudley had been waiting for the opportunity to…take him.

"Mum and Dad are gone, and the neighbors are at a picnic. The only reason I'm not there is because I'm gonna take what I should have been given."

With that, Dudley lunged forwards and grabbed Harry's genitals, digging his nails in.

Harry screamed. Dudley leered at Harry and sharply twisted his hand, causing Harry to bleed. Harry's magic lashed out, removing Dudley's memories and putting him to sleep in his room, and then he blacked out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: Again, sorry about the delay from last week, but I really was BADLY sick. I'm not any more, but I'm not sure when the next chapter will come. Hopefully soon.

Review please!


	16. The Letter Comes At Last

A/N: Hey guys, kinda short, but I got it up quickly, ne? Hopefully I'll get another up soon!

**Chapter Thirteen: From Two to Eleven, Part VIII  
OR: The Letter Comes At Last**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**  
**

Lily vomited. Severus gently rubbed her back as she proceeded to empty her stomach of her breakfast. _An eleven-year-old boy…eleven-year-old boy…_ She couldn't think. Any time she thought of one child trying to rape her son…she leaned forward and dry-heaved.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry shivered. He could feel his body tingling. Something was happening. He jerked up out of his bed, and pushed open his cupboard door. Aunt Petunia was frying bacon, and she glared at Harry when he barged in the kitchen and thrust the pan at him, slapping him sharply for daring to be late.

Harry took the pan and flipped the bacon, but couldn't stop shifting from foot to foot. The tingling—the tingling—the tingling…

He finished the bacon right as the mail slot clattered, signaling the arrival of the mail. He nearly dropped the spatula in his haste to get into the hall, but was stopped by his Uncle's pudgy arm.

"Serve it, boy."

Harry nearly screamed in frustration. He slapped the bacon down onto the three plates, but it was too late. Dudley was shouting from the entranceway about the three letters addressed to Harry.

He didn't remember what happened after that, only just that when he woke up, his feet were tied to his bed with wire.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

During the next week, letter after letter after letter appeared for Harry. They were stuffed into eggs, shoved through slots in the doors and windows, there was even one in every milk bottle Petunia got.

Vernon was furious and boarded up every crack in the house.

Harry didn't know anything that was going on, as he wasn't allowed out of his cupboard. He twisted uncomfortably, his urine and feces irritating his skin.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

James vomited. _No jury would convict me…_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was only when Vernon stepped out of his room Sunday morning into a pile of letters knee-high that he snapped completely. He shouted at his family to get ready to leave, and dragged Harry out of the cupboard.

"Of course. I should have know," he sneered, "lying in your own shit. Clean up, boy. I can't have the neighbors smelling the shit that you are."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Remus laughed. Most of the Ravenclaws did as well. The laughter lasted a few seconds, before it dissolved into growls.

"Oi! Potter! How does it feel to know that your son's not only abused, but abused by a retard who can't even speak!"

James stiffened. _Chaucer_. Asshole sixth year Hufflepuff. His magic exploded, shredding Chaucer's body (and groin). While he didn't die, Chaucer remained in the Hospital Wing for nearly a month before he recovered, minus his family jewels.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's my birthday in…twenty…nineteen…eighteen…seventeen…sixteen…" Harry breathlessly counted down the seconds till July 31. He shifted on the sea hut's floor, curling up tightly under the thin ragged sheet.

"twelve…eleven…ten…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…Happy birthday, Harry," Lily whispered, "It will be happy, I promise, I promise it will."

A few seconds later, the hall erupted in birthday well-wishes for Harry.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BAM!

Harry looked up, shocked.

BAM!

Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon,' he asked, drool slipping off of his chin. Harry ignored him to look warily at the door.

BAM!

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia dashed from their 'room', Vernon holding a long rifle. "Who are you?" He shouted, trembling slightly, "I warn you, I'm armed!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It was supposed to be a HAPPY birthday," Lily screamed, "Not someone else who's going to try and kill him!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BAM! CRASH!

Harry saw a giant of a man tower through the door, an angry look upon its face.

"Shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," it said, and twisted Uncle Vernon's gun into a bendy knot.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Go Hagrid!" Sirius called. "Squish the muggles, squish 'em all, I say!"

The Groundskeeper snarled. "Ah, yeh can bet yer hide I will."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nearly three hours later, Harry was in shock. His whole world had been turned upside down by one (admittedly large) man.

For one, Harry was eating cake and sausage while his family couldn't have any.

For another, Harry found out the truth about his parents…and that he was supposedly famous. That, he couldn't believe.

And for the last, he had just been given a heavy parchment envelope with the same green ink and purple seal as before. The large man, Hagrid, seemed to want Harry to savor opening his letter, and so he did just that.

After reading the address for the third time, Harry flipped over the letter. The purple seal depicted a lion, raven, badger, and snake surrounding a large letter "H."

As Harry ran a finger over the images, he felt a strange sort of stirring inside, and could almost hear Nix singing in his ear.

The Raven. Acing a test; devouring books in the library; learning for the joy of learning; trying to create his own thesis.

The Lion. Standing up for someone smaller; standing up for himself; taking any punishment as silently as possible.

The Badger. Keeping a secret for a little girl; working for days to learn to open his cupboard; cleaning the house over again without complaining; waiting in the cupboard for so long for someone to come.

The Snake. Running from Dudley's gang; learning what to avoid doing or saying in front of Vernon; acting stupider than Dudley; sneaking food and water during the night.

The "H". Everything together. It felt so warm.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: I know, I know, a little odd at the ending there, and not really conclusive. Don't worry! It'll all work out. Now. I KNOW I'm skipping over some parts. The Hagrid deal happened almost identical to the book, so there's no real new detail. Hogwartians are cheering every time Hagrid dissed somebody, booing everytime Dursley spoke. Hopefully LONGER chapters soon.

Now, can anyone find the reference? Heeheehee.

Also. Do you want more Harry? Or more Hogwartians (Marauder's time period)?


	17. That's A Lot Of Stuff

**A/N: **Hi!

:ducks and hides under the desk:

I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's been busy! Real Life sucks, but it's still out there, still haunting us!

**PLEASE READ A/N AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER!**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Chapter Fourteen: That's A Lot of Stuff**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

With trembling fingers, Harry broke the wax seal, and began to read his letter. As soon as he finished, he looked up at Hagrid, his eyes suspiciously wet.

"I'll go."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lily and James let out the breath they had been holding.

"See?" James said, giving a shaky smile, "Harry wouldn't go anywhere else other than Hogwarts."

"'Course not!" Sirius exclaimed. He leaned over to James, "And who knows, maybe he's got your … _talents_." James grinned at the thought of having a Marauder son, while Lily looked suspiciously at the two snickering boys.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Vernon, at this point, could not control his temper, and started screaming about freaks, raising his fists to bash Harry's face in. He lunged, screaming "—NO CRACKPOT WIZARD TO TEACH—"

Hagrid, his face ruddy with anger, jabbed Vernon hard in the lower stomach with his umbrella, then brought it cracking down in Dudley's direction, resulting in a high pitched squeal from the obese child.

Dudley turned around in circles, screaming and crying, holding onto his rear end tightly, as if he were afraid to have it fall off. Between his fingers, a long, curly pig tail writhed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hagrid stood up and bowed, blushing at the cacophony of cheers he received. Most of the Hufflepuff house was on their feet, whistling and stamping their heels. Slytherins were sending spells up in the air, creating illusions of a screaming boy, slowly changing into a morbidly obese pig. One talented third year even transfigured a tissue into a trophy, which proclaimed "Best Partial Transformation Intended to Cause Injury." The Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were beside themselves, cheering for the half-giant who managed to do what all of them wanted to. Several Ravenclaws were actually proposing nastier revenges, some involving castration or worse. Those tended to come from the females, and the males had difficultly imagining castration as 'not enough' punishment for anyone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The screen faded to black, and then faded in as Hagrid spoke to Tom, the barkeeper of The Leaky Cauldron.

"I'm on official business, Tom."

The withered barkeep looked at Harry, who was quivering under Hagrid's 'light' shoulder-pat.

"Good lord, can it be?" he whispered. Quickly, he shuffled from behind the bar, and grasped Harry's hand. He shook it, repeating over and over, "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

For a few seconds, the room was silent, then in a burst of activity, Harry was surrounded by nearly a hundred people (some not human) all of them wanting to shake his hand. In a daze, Harry let his had be wrung by an old hag. How could all these people want to know him? It must have something to do with him being famous…but, he's just Harry, who'd even care about him?

Luckily, Hagrid pulled him out of the midst of cheering patrons, and led him to the back wall. Harry looked in awe at the brightly glowing bricks, nearly having to squint his eyes against the glow. He watched as Hagrid tapped the brightest brick, and the wall opened up, revealing rows upon rows of wizarding shops. Hagrid grinned.

"Welcome, 'Arry, to Diagon Ally."

He led Harry to Gringotts, where he explained the money system and helped him withdraw a large amount of gold. While Hagrid was trying to settle his stomach, once coming back from Harry's vault (as well as the mysterious one which had the current occupants of Hogwarts trying to find out exactly what was inside it), Harry proceeded to do the unthinkable, and profusely thank Griphook for all his help. Griphook brushed off the thanks with a look of astonishment, and after Harry left the vicinity, ran to tell Ragnok, head of Gringotts, exactly what had just happened.

Harry, in the meantime, was having the time of his life. Hagrid had helped him order a standard trunk, with two compartments, three times larger on the inside than outside. Then Hagrid brought him to the apothecary, where he ordered Harry a standard potions set for first years. While Hagrid was doing this, Harry browsed through the ingredients, and potion books available. When Hagrid followed the assistant to the back, Harry tentatively approached the counter, holding various items. He bought, for the price of seventeen galleons, a multitude of basic ingredients, a few of the not so basic ingredients, and the books _The Basics of Potion Making_; _The General Reaction Standard_; _The Process of Substitution_; and the more advanced _Potion Adaptation and Creation_.

The store owner shrunk the purchases that could safely be manipulated with magic, to Harry's magic-craving glee, and gently packaged the rest. Harry placed the whole assortment into the second compartment, just as Hagrid reappeared, holding a foot long, half foot high, and half foot wide chest, with _Standard First Year Potion Ingredients_ engraved on the lid. The chest itself was made of a glossy red wood, and had silvery hinges, pictures, and a small lock in front. Harry reverently placed the chest in the second compartment, giving Hagrid the gold to pay for it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"At least your son seems to show some appreciation for the delicate art of potion-making, Potter," Severus sneered. "Hopefully, he will have a moderate degree of talent, unlike your rough-handed slop style."

James refused to take the bait, and replied, "With luck he gained Lily's skill in potions and charms, but my talent in transfiguration and defense against the dark arts."

Sirius, shocked by his best friend's reluctance, turned to Severus, and snidely commented, "Hopefully, Harry won't have to deal with the amount of grease that seems to accumulate on a potion expert's hair. Oh wait. It's not every potion expert. It's just you."

Before Severus could utter the cutting remarks just sitting on his tongue, Lily interrupted. "I wonder why we're seeing this. Harry's only purchasing his school supplies. Not that I'm complaining," she rushed, seeing James turn to her, astonished, "I just thought we were supposed to see important parts of Harry's life."

"Probably because it's his first time shopping at Diagon Ally," Remus said. "We most likely won't see Harry purchasing things again, unless it's something important."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next stop was Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore. Here, Hagrid let Harry fend for himself, offering to purchase Harry's supplies, such as parchment, quills, ink, cauldrons, and telescopes. Harry nodded, giving him the gold, and then entered the store.

The first thing Harry noticed were seven tables sitting at the front of the store. Each one had a year and school over it, "First Years—Hogwarts", "First Years—Briarthorn", "Second Years—Hogwarts" and so forth. Thick bundles of books were piled on each table, and upon further inspection, Harry saw that each bundle contained the required books on his list. After putting one bundle in the supplied carrier, and noting, with shock, that the carrier did not get any heavier, Harry continued over to the neatly arranged shelf of books.

Harry traveled through the store, putting book after book into the carrier. He got books in whatever seemed interesting, Charms; Transfiguration; Divination; Warding; Wandless Theory; a book entitled _So You Want to Be An Animagus_, which Harry didn't quite understand, but it had a moving picture of a man changing into a Labrador, so he figured it must be good; and other books, including a copy of _Hogwarts; A History_.

Harry knew there was no way he was going to understand all the books he got, some seemed very advanced, but he might as well give them a read, to try to understand this magical world of magic (Harry chuckled, he really needed a larger vocabulary) that he'd been thrust into.

As he waited on line for his turn to pay, he started to fret. He had who knows how many books in his carrier, he certainly hadn't been keeping track, could he even afford it? And where could he keep it all? There was no way they would fit into his trunk! He was so distracted, it took two times of the clerk calling "next" for him to snap out of it, and place his carrier on the counter.

The clerk, having spent nearly ten minutes totaling the purchase, looked gently at Harry. "This is a rather lot of books, little one. Shouldn't we wait for your parents?" Harry looked up indignantly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sirius was rolling around in his seat, laughing hysterically. "Little…one! Oh Merlin, little….little Harry!"

"Oi!" James swatted his head. "My son is not little!"

"That's right," Sirius replied, a grin on his face. "He's petite!"

James glared, and conjured a bucket of ice water over Sirius's head. "Don't make me…" he threatened.

Sirius instantly backed off. James nodded, and then promptly dropped the water all over Sirius's head.

"Hey!" he shouted, several octaves higher than normal.

"Oops."

Lily frowned. _He IS too small. For Merlin's sake, he looks like an eight year old! Oh Harry, what have they done to you?_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry blushed. "Ummm….my parents are dead…" he muttered, looking at the counter, "I'm buying my Hogwarts stuff." Nervously, he ran a sweaty hand through his hair, revealing the lighting scar for just an instant.

The clerk gasped softly then nodded sympathetically. "My apologies, Mr. Potter," he said softly. "Your total comes to fifty seven galleons, and nine sickles. Would you like me to include a Library?"

Harry looked up, confused. "Er…excuse me? A Library?"

The clerk nodded. "Yes, Mr. –" he glanced over at the other clerks and customers, and, wanting to prevent a riot, continued, "Sir." Upon seeing Harry's confused look, he expounded, "A Library is used when one, such as yourself, purchases a great deal of books, and either does not have the storage space for them at home, or is traveling, such as you are, to a place which does not provide such space." He disappeared for a minute, and then returned, holding what seemed to be a rectangular wooden box, with no top or bottom. "This, Mr.—sir, is a Basic Library. Up to one hundred fifty books can fit onto it. You see these?" He pointed to small circular impressions on one of the sides, "You can change each of these impressions to suit your needs. For example," here he picked up several books of Harry's, and put them on the shelf. "I've just put on a Transfiguration book, a Charms book, and a Herbology book. Right now you see these books side by side, but if I were to do this," he pressed one of the circles, "Transfiguration," then pressed another, "Charms", and then another, "Herbology, you see how the books rearrange."

Harry looked at the books, which seemed to have simply separated until they were underneath the correct impression, which he saw had changed shape to a symbol representing the subject.

"And now, if I were to do this," the clerk said, placing three more Transfiguration books on the shelf, "they automatically sort themselves."

Harry watched at the books moved BEHIND the already placed book. "So, how would I get to them?" he asked.

"Like this." With that, the clerk pressed on the symbol (a glass changing into a ball, then back), and the section extended out, looking almost like a drawer of a file cabinet, the books lined up neatly.

"As I said," the clerk continued, "this is the Basic Library. It can hold one hundred fifty books, and can sort them into seven different sections. The other versions can hold more books, separate them into more categories, and can come in different styles. Also, for a galleon apiece, you can purchase an Index, which is a blank book. You would put one in each section, and as you put more books in, the Index would list the title of the book, the author, and the summary given in the book."

Harry nodded, feeling like a bobble-head toy, as he tried to understand the information given to him.

"Can I maybe see some other styles, please?" he asked, hesitantly. Even when knowing that the clerk would not yell at him, or strike him, he instinctively expected a harsh negative. Instead, the clerk nodded, replaced all the books into the carrier, and then led Harry to a small display.

Here Harry saw around fifty different Libraries. There was the Basic model, but he saw some ranging to holding over twenty thousand books, with nearly three hundred circular impressions. A label next to it said "PRE-SHRUNK. WHEN FULLY EXPANDED, CONTAINS TWELVE SHELVES, AND REACHES 8 FEET HIGH, AND 6 FEET WIDE"

After browsing for a few minutes, the clerk explaining anything he asked about, Harry chose a model which held five hundred books, fifty circular impressions, and came in a black wood, with red and silver decorations. Harry figured that the Library would last for most of his life, and within that period of time, he could reasonably expect a large variety of books, if not the maximum amount the Library could hold. The Library was also a reasonable size, expanding to two shelves, two feet high, and two and a half feet wide.

After returning to the counter, and paying one hundred, fifty four galleons flat, Harry, after glancing about for Hagrid, (his size ensuring that Harry need not search long), he adjourned to a back table, on which he began sorting his books, and placing them in the Library. He didn't bother setting the separations, or looking the titles. He simply thrust them in the Library, and lastly, put in the fifty Indexes. He then returned to the counter, where the clerk shrunk the Library to its Travel size, and Harry returned the carrier.

After waiting another ten minutes or so, Harry spotted Hagrid outside the window.

Harry dashed outside, and, after placing the Library in the first compartment of his trunk, looked up and smiled at Hagrid.

Hagrid smiled back, and removed his hands from behind his broad back. " 'Appy birthday, 'Arry. I got this fer ya."

Harry's eyes widened, seeing a beautiful Snowy owl in Hagrid's hands (in a cage as well, obviously.) He blushed, and stammered his thanks, which Hagrid brushed off, pleased.

Hagrid then opened the trunk, and pointed out the supplies which he had bought for Harry, and the necessary purchases for the owl.

"Now all we need ta get is yer robes and yer wand."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hagrid!"

Lily ran up to the giant gamekeeper, and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Thank you! That's the sweetest thing you could have done. Thank you."

Hagrid blushed bright red, and muttered under his breath about how "it were nothin' and she didn't need ta be thankin' him fer that."

James groaned. "I've got a Ravenclaw for a son…"

Before he could continue, he was pelted with harmless spells from the Ravenclaws who sat within hearing range.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

First stop was Madam Malkin's, where Harry had the uncertain pleasure of meeting Draco Malfoy. He got an odd feeling from the boy, a sort of smug superiority, very close to what Harry felt from Dudley. That alone was enough to warn Harry to be on his toes.

After he left with an order to come back in an hour to pick up his robes, it was off to the wand shop.

As Harry entered Ollivander's, he was nearly blinding by the multi-colored lights. While his eyes had quickly adjusting to the glows and pulsing lights of Diagon Ally to the point where he could basically ignore them, or 'turn off' his seeing them, the wand shop felt like staring at the sun, when he was only two feet away from it.

Harry was glad that Mr. Ollivander took his time in appearing, he needed those three or four minutes to get his vision back under control. By the time he appeared, Harry was only seeing dim glowing lights from the multitude of boxes that surrounded the store.

By the time Harry and Hagrid were able to leave (with only five minutes left till they could go back to Madam Malkin's) Harry was exhausted. Mr. Ollivander had been creepy and disturbing, with his odd, staring eyes. Not only did Harry have to try wand after wand after wand, he had to deal with the foreign magic trying to pull his own magic away from him. His wand, an eleven inch holly and phoenix feather combination, was a relief to hold, and it merely provided a passage for his magic, feeling like an extension of his arm.

He couldn't say he was looking forward to using it though. He found it was still much more comfortable to use his hand for such things as he had discovered during his long years with the Dursleys.

Harry started walking with Hagrid to the robe shop, when his eye caught a broom in a window. The Nimbus 2000 it proclaimed. Harry, having seen (and bought) books about Quidditch, knew that a person could fly on it. He was looking forwards to reading the books he had gotten, but right now, he just wanted to stare at the broom.

Hagrid chuckled, and left to pick up the robes by himself, after extracting a promise to meet Harry back in front of the Quidditch Supply Shop.

Harry nodded, and after looking longingly at the Nimbus (and sadly remembering the letter, which said no first-year could own a broom), wandered about the Alley.

He passed by shops selling animals, shops selling jewelry, and even some shops selling what seemed to be indoor ponds. He started to loop back, when he noticed a shop selling what appeared to be pre-made potions.

Harry entered the store, and after looking over the wares, and noting the various names and usages of some of the potions, decided to buy some of the healing potions. After all, he wouldn't want to start the school year bruised and beaten.

After buying several potions, he continued to browse some potions that claimed to get rid of all household pests, when he saw Hagrid starting to leave Madam Malkin's out of the corner of his eye.

He dashed back to the Quidditch store, and thanked Merlin (he'd heard many people say "Thank Merlin" and "Oh Merlin" and such and figured he might as well start using it to fit in) that Hagrid got delayed talking to a tall man with red hair, who seemed to have burns all over his arms.

After placing the robes in his trunk, he and Hagrid began the (depressing) journey back to Privet Drive.

As he was nearing the Dursleys, Harry started to groan. The temporary lightening charm on the trunk had worn off, and it was INCREDIBLY heavy. Harry thanked go—Merlin that the Library would never weigh more than thirty pounds, and in its compact Travel size, only five pounds.

After being dropped off, Harry faced a furious uncle, who was not only terrified, but trembling in anger from the pig-tail damage done to his only son.

Harry closed his eyes in fright and acceptance, and the screen faded black.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**A/N:**

Hiii! Alright, a favor here. PLEASE read The Flow of Magic, and let me know which chapter you like best! (As you get to the last chapter, you'll understand why I'm asking that.)

Sorry for the huge delay! But unfortunately, I can't write without plot bunnies, and mine are easily frightened away!


	18. The Vast Red Sea Part One

A/N: Hey guys. Been a while, no? Hey, I've got legitimate excuses here! College applications, and college auditions (BFA Acting). I'm exhausted!

…But considering the schedules of the other fanfic authors here, I really should feel ashamed, shouldn't I?

Oh well. Too bad for you!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Chapter Fifteen: The Vast Red Sea**

**PART ONE**

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Harry was ecstatic. He was going to Hogwarts!

He'd already read several of the books (mainly the ones on the theory of Magic, as well as _Hogwarts, A History_), and practiced some of the spells. Using a wand was rather awkward, but he figured if he couldn't get used to it, he could always just do it by hand. It was too bad he couldn't try making any of the potions, but Aunt Petunia had beaten him black and blue when he left a few blades of Knotgrass out.

"We're leaving in five minutes, boy! If you're not out there, we'll leave without you, and you'll regret it when I come back!"

Harry snapped to, very reluctant (for obvious reasons) to anger his Uncle further. The last month had been a constant haze of pain, though luckily Uncle Vernon had left off raping him. Harry sighed. At least the pre-made potions did what they were supposed to. While still heavily scarred, no new bruises or cuts showed (or broken bones) and a few glamour spells covered his body.

He lugged his trunk to the car, and hefted it in. Even with his practicing (his cousin thought he was a freak, well, even more of a freak, for trying to hold it up for as long as he could the past three weeks) the trunk was still nearly too much for him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"And they don't even bother to help him," James growled.

Sirius shrugged. "Why do you act surprised?" he asked heavily.

"Not surprised," James answered, bearing his teeth, "just pissed off."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There was no platform 9 ¾.

Harry didn't see it. His Uncle didn't even bloody care, and just left him there with the trunk. He couldn't find the platform anywhere, and he had a feeling asking a conductor would be a bad idea.

"_Hello, sir? Yes, my name is Harry Potter, and I'm looking for the train to Hogwarts, sir. Yes, sir. Hogwarts. No no. HOG—never mind. Can you please tell me where to find the train that leaves at 11? There isn't? You must be mistaken, sir. You see, I'm looking for a MAGICAL train that will take me to a MAGIC school where I will learn MAGIC. Sir? Sir? Why are you looking at me like that, sir? Why—wait! No! Let me go! I have to get to school! I have—" Proceeds to slump over due to elephant tranquilizer._

Right, Potter. Clearly, that's the best idea. He shook his head. He was getting sarcastic again.

As casually as he could, he looked around the station, checking for anyone who might look out of the ordinary.

On his third look, he did a double take. Was the station on fire? No one was screaming, but he could clearly see the flames right over---! Oh. It was just a large family, all with red hair.

As the family passed by, Harry noticed several large trunks, and an owl and cage on top of one. He took that as a sign these were wizards.

"Percy," the large woman, clearly the mother, started, "You first."

Harry peered closely, but he couldn't see how the boy was going to---vanish?! Harry lifted his glasses and rubbed at both eyes. Where had he gone? To the train, obviously, but HOW?

"Fred, you next."

"I'm not Fred, mum, I'm George. Honestly! You call yourself our mother?"

"Sorry, George."

The redhead walked quickly to the area between platforms 9 and 10. As he reached the wall, he turned back and said, "Only joking, mum. I am Fred," before turning and vanishing.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

James, Sirius, and Remus shared a glance.

"Dibs," Remus said.

"Aww…no fair, Moony!"

"Shut it, Padfoot. I called dibs. I get to recruit them. I'm sure you'll be involved though,"

Sirius looked overjoyed.

"After all, they'll need some target practice."

Sirius growled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The second twin darted away without a single word of banter, leaving Harry clueless and running out of time. There was no other option.

"Er…excuse me, ma'am?"

The large woman turned around, smiling at Harry.

"Would—would you mind telling me how to…er…how to…" Harry started stuttering. He had started the question looking at his feet, but he thought that was rude, and so raised his head to meet the woman's eyes. She was smiling at him. All of a sudden, Harry ducked his head, sure he was blushing so much his face was burning. She was smiling at him?

"How to get onto the platform, dearie?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yes'm."

She laughed. "None of that "ma'am" stuff. I'm Mrs. Weasley. You're first year at Hogwarts? Ron's new too." She pointed to a tall boy standing next to her. He smiled and gave a sort of half wave. "Ginny will be going next year, oh, all my babies are leaving me!" With that the woman…er…Mrs. Weasley turned and pulled Ron into a hug.

"Mum!" He exclaimed, face flushing red. He pulled away and readjusted his shirt.

"Hey," he said, extending a hand out to Harry, "I'm Ron."

Harry smiled, shaking his hand. "Harry," he said.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: I KNOW this is next to nothing! Normally I'd just save this, finish it later, and post it, but considering I have no clue when I'm GOING to get the chapter finished (this is only the first half), I decided to throw this up here.

And that sounded wrong, I know.

Anyhow, sorry the chapter is kinda crappy. I have not been doing much fan-writing (clearly) as of late, and so I'm sort of warming back up again.

Remember guys, if you'd like to see something in the fic, let me know!

BUT! To help me out later on!

POLL!

Should Nix (the phoenix) show up at Hogwarts?

And:

Should Harry and Ron become friends with Hermione before the troll, or after?


End file.
